At least 100 federal investigators are responding to an attack in Michigan where a former Marine crashed a pickup into a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel during a Sunday service, shot into the building and set it on fire. Four people were killed and eight more were wounded by gunfire. Officers were […]
Religious News
What we know about the deadly shooting at a Michigan Mormon church
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At least 100 federal investigators are responding to an attack in Michigan where a former Marine crashed a pickup into a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel during a Sunday service, shot into the building and set it on fire.
Four people were killed and eight more were wounded by gunfire. Officers were on the scene within 30 seconds after the 911 call and eventually shot the attacker.
It was the latest of many shooting attacks on houses of worship in the U.S. over the past 20 years, including one in August that killed two children during Mass at the Church of the Annunciation in Minneapolis.
It was also the second mass shooting in the U.S. in less than 24 hours. On Saturday night, another former Marine opened fire from a boat into a crowd in Southport, North Carolina, killing three and injuring five.
It was around 10:25 a.m. Sunday and hundreds of worshippers were inside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township when a truck smashed into the building.
A man got out of a pickup, which was fixed with two U.S. flags in the bed, and began firing a gun into the church, according to law enforcement.
The attacker also started a fire, apparently by using gasoline. As flames engulfed the church, congregants who also worked at a nearby hospital ran in and out of the torching building, dragging people out as the fire consumed near the whole church.
An officer with the Department of Natural Resources was nearby when the 911 call came in and went to the scene. That officer, along with a local police officer, chased and exchanged gunfire with the attacker, killing him about eight minutes later, according to authorities.
Fire and smoke poured from the church for hours, and photos showed charred rubble from the building.
Eight people — ages 6 to 78 — were shot and wounded but all are expected to recover, said Township Chief of Police William Renye. Two people were treated for smoke inhalation.
Officials said the attacker was Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, from a nearby small town.
He served in the Marines from 2004 to 2008, including seven months in Iraq, focusing on vehicle operations and maintenance, and was discharged at the rank of sergeant, according to records released by the Marine Corps.
A motive for the attack is still not clear.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said officials were investigating how much planning was involved and whether anything pointing toward a motive was left behind.
“From what I understand, based on my conversations with the FBI director, all they know right now is this was an individual who hated people of the Mormon faith,” she said Monday during an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends.”
Investigators were searching Sanford’s residence, but authorities did not say what they found or provide any additional details about him, including whether he was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church.
The Mormon church described the building as a chapel where Sunday services were being held.
The church said on its website that it has nearly 47,000 members in Michigan — among almost 7 million members in the U.S. — and that the building is one of several Mormon churches in the area.
Grand Blanc Township is about 60 miles (97 kilometers) northwest of Detroit and just south of Flint.
The FBI is leading the investigation and considers it an “act of targeted violence,” according to Ruben Coleman, special agent in charge for the bureau.
Local authorities said the FBI was sending 100 agents to Grand Blanc Township, a community of roughly 40,000 people.
Crews in white coveralls and hard hats searched through what remained of the church Monday morning. The suspect’s silver truck with two American flags in the back remained where it had smashed into a brick wall near a sign that says “visitors welcome.”
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This story has been corrected to show that two people were treated for smoke inhalation after police clarified the number of wounded.