A community in the U.S. state of Michigan was plunged into mourning Monday after a former Marine crashed his vehicle into a church, opened fire on worshippers, and set the building ablaze, killing at least four people and wounding eight others before being killed in a shootout with police.
Authorities identified the attacker as Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, from Burton, Michigan. Police said Sanford drove a pickup truck into the front doors of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township on Sunday morning, then opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle before igniting the building with an accelerant.
“Two of the shooting victims died, and eight others were hospitalized,” officials said. Several hours later, investigators found at least two more bodies in the charred ruins of the church, which was engulfed by flames and smoke.
“There are some that are unaccounted for,” confirmed Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renye at a press conference.
Explosives And Investigation
An official with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives said investigators believe Sanford used gasoline to fuel the fire and that explosives were recovered at the scene.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said it is leading the investigation and considers the incident “an act of targeted violence.”
Police confirmed Sanford was killed in a gun battle with officers about eight minutes after the attack began.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump wrote on Truth Social that he had been briefed on the attack, stressing that the FBI was “immediately on scene” and leading the investigation. He called the assault “yet another targeted attack on Christians.”
Violence Against Churches
The Michigan tragedy was the latest in a grim series of attacks on U.S. churches. In 2015, a white supremacist murdered nine people during a Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
More recently, watchdog groups say attacks on U.S. churches have risen sharply, with more than 400 incidents recorded in both 2023 and 2024.
The attack also comes as the nation is still grappling with the assassination of Charlie Kirk, 31, a born-again Christian conservative activist and co-founder of Turning Point USA. Kirk was shot dead earlier this month while addressing students at Utah Valley University. Authorities said he was gunned down from a rooftop in what Utah’s governor described as a political assassination.
The suspect, 22-year-old Tyler James Robinson, has been arrested and charged with aggravated murder. Forensic investigators say the DNA on a rifle recovered near the scene matched Robinson.
Kirk’s killing shocked many in Christian and conservative circles, triggering renewed debate over the rise of political and religious violence in the United States.
