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The FBI is investigating a violent and deadly attack on a Mormon house of worship in Michigan on Sunday. A gunman drove his pickup truck into a packed service and opened fire on parishioners. Then, he set the building on fire.
The attacker killed at least four people and injured eight others. Officials are still searching for some who are missing after the deadly assault on the church in Grand Blanc, about 50 miles northwest of Detroit.
Grand Blanc Police Chief William Renye said, “We’re working tirelessly to find additional bodies. So to answer your question, the entire church has not been cleared because it’s a total loss due to the fire.”
Hundreds of people were gathered for worship inside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints facility on Sunday morning when the gunman opened fire.
Police say the suspect, 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford, an Iraq war veteran, rammed a pickup truck through the front door, got out, and started shooting. Then he started a fire.
Police responding to the scene in less than 30 seconds confronted the shooter. He fled the church and died in a shootout in the parking lot.
The flames consumed the building, forcing firefighters to retreat as the roof collapsed.
A teacher at the church was inside when the attack began. “One of our counselors was up speaking and we heard a big bang and then the doors flew open,” the woman named Paula described.
Investigators say the shooter used an assault rifle and may have had multiple improvised explosive devices inside his truck
“Our church is gone. I joined the church 38 years ago, and now it’s gone,” Paula said. “To think somebody would do this to my church.”
The governor of Michigan posted on social media overnight, saying, “Violence anywhere especially in a place of worship, is unacceptable.”
President Trump condemned the shooting on Truth Social, saying, “PRAY for the victims, and their families. THIS EPIDEMIC OF VIOLENCE IN OUR COUNTRY MUST END, IMMEDIATELY!”
The Mormon meetinghouse was already reportedly mourning the death of the 101-year-old president of the LDS national church, who passed just hours earlier.
Officials say they’re searching the shooter’s home just 8 miles from the church and poring through his cell phone records as they work to determine a motive.
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