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Police believe attacker ‘deliberately’ set fire to the Church of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township
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Thomas Jacob Sanford’s father has spoken out after police said his son killed four people and injured eight in a shooting at a Michigan church on Sunday.
Sanford rammed his truck into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, on Sunday morning and fired at hundreds of worshippers, police said. Sanford, a former U.S. Marine who was deployed to Iraq in 2007, also set fire to the building before police killed him in a parking lot behind the church, according to authorities.
“I feel terrible about all the families that have been hurt and they’re under the same crap that I’m going under, that my wife and I are going under,” the suspect’s father, Thomas Sanford, told the Detroit Free Press. “I apologize for that.”
City council candidate Kris Johns in nearby Burton, Michigan, says the suspected gunman described the church’s members as “the antichrist” when they spoke last week, the Detroit Free Press reports. Police have yet to confirm Sanford’s motive.
Hospital officials confirmed Monday that they treated eight victims, ages six to 78. Five people were hospitalized with gunshot wounds, while three were treated for smoke inhalation. Two of those treated for smoke inhalation have been discharged.
After Thomas Jacob Sanford rammed his pickup into the front doors of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan, he allegedly aimed an assault-style rifle at the worshippers inside, killing four people and wounding eight others.
A Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq, Sanford, 40, then set fire to the structure, according to authorities. As terrified parishioners tried to escape the blaze, Sanford was killed at the scene by police.
Retiree Lori Farmer, who lives nearby with husband Ron, told The Independent that she was “shocked” when she heard Sanford identified as the shooter. Farmer and her husband, who worked with Sanford, are “still reeling,” she said.
“He was a good guy,” Farmer said. “All about his family.”
Sanford, who met her husband while driving a truck for Coca-Cola, had gone ice fishing with the couple, and once helped them remove a big spruce tree from their property, according to Farmer. Sanford and his wife, who was part of the LDS church, had a son with special needs; Sanford reportedly had gotten his tattoos removed so he could participate in LDS ceremonies.
Read more from Justin Rohrlich:
Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat, and Republican state Representative Mike Mueller came together to share a message in the wake of Sunday’s shooting at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township.
“Take a breath. Don’t believe every theory you read on social media,” Slotkin said.
Mueller added, “Wait for the FBI to do their investigation. They’ll find the motive, and let’s heal as a community.”
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has said “everyone deserves the freedom to pray” after meeting with officials in Grand Blanc Township, following Sunday’s shooting at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Senator Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat who visited the site of Sunday’s shooting at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, said the Church was “burnt down to the bricks.”
Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, is accused of ramming his pickup truck into the front doors of the church and opening dire on worshippers inside before setting fire to the structure.
Police killed Sanford in a parking lot behind the church. At least four people were killed and eight were injured in the attack.
Slotkin said on CNN Monday night, “The church is basically gone…It’s just burnt down to the bricks.”
“The unimaginable terror that went on in that place of worship during a church service, it’s just hard to take in,” the senator added.
Two days before the massacre at a Mormon church in Michigan, the mother of suspected shooter Thomas Jacob Sanford made a cryptic post on Facebook about someone in her life who refused to take “accountability” and who always “twists everything.”
That is according to reports from The New York Post and The Daily Mail, which identified the now-deleted Facebook profile as belonging to Sanford’s mother, Brenda.
It’s not clear who her post was referring to, and the words were not originally hers. Instead, they seem to have been part of a copy-pasted meme that has been circulating on social media since at least August.
Police have named Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, as the man who killed four people and injured at least eight others in an attack on a Mormon Church in Grand Blanc, Michigan on Sunday morning.
“People lack accountability, then say, ‘you could’ve talked to me.’ No, I couldn’t. Because talking to you isn’t really a conversation,” the post read in part.
Read more from Io Dodds:
Suspected gunman Thomas Jacob Sanford served as a U.S. Marine from 2004 to 2008, and was deployed to Iraq in 2007.
His father told the Detroit Free Press that he “loved the United States.”
“He came back. I’m glad he came back in one piece,” Sanford’s father said. “He was in logistics. He drove a wrecker and went out and picked up vehicles. One time, he was under fire but most of the time he was fine.”
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has brought in its National Response Team to investigate Sunday’s shooting, law enforcement officials said at a Monday afternoon press conference.
“This is a cadre of world-renowned investigators for arson and explosive incidents,” ATF Special Agent in Charge James Deir said. “They have been used all over the world, and they come from places as far as California, Hawaii, and they’re here in Michigan now.”
The suspected shooter set fire to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township on Sunday. Officials said investigators also recovered improvised explosive devices.
Hospital officials provided an update on the eight people, ages 6 to 78, they treated in the wake of the Michigan church shooting.
Five of the victims were treated for gunshot wounds, while the other three were treated for smoke inhalation. Here’s what we know about the victims’ status, according to a statement from hospital officials on Monday afternoon:
Watch more updates from law enforcement below:
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