Michigan Mormon church shooting suspect identified as former US marine

Striking nurses at nearby Henry Ford Genesys Hospital left the picket line and ran the short distance to the church to help first responders, Teamsters Local 332 president Dan Glass said.

“Human lives matter more than our labor dispute,” Mr Glass said.

People inside the church flung themselves to shield their children, said Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renye.

“They were shielding the children who were also present within the church, moving them to safety,” he said, reported NBC NEws. “Just hundreds of people just practicing their faith. Just extreme courage.”

Two law enforcement officers rushed to the scene within 30 seconds of receiving emergency calls and engaged the suspect in an exchange of gunfire, shooting him dead in the parking lot about eight minutes after the incident began, Renye said.

A witness describing the shooting at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday morning said she heard “a big bang and the doors blew”.

“I lost friends in there and some of my little primary children that I teach on Sundays were hurt,” the woman told WXYZ television. “It’s very devastating for me.”

President Donald Trump in a statement on Truth Social said that the shooting “appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America” and that, “THIS EPIDEMIC OF VIOLENCE IN OUR COUNTRY MUST END, IMMEDIATELY!”

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, informally known as the Mormon church, follows the teachings of Jesus and also the prophecies of Joseph Smith, a 19th-century American.

Grand Blanc, a town of 7,700 people, is about 100 km northwest of Detroit.

The Michigan rampage marked the 324th mass shooting in the US in 2025, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

It was also the third US mass shooting in less than 24 hours, including the North Carolina incident and a shooting a few hours later at a casino in Eagle Pass, Texas, that killed at least two people and injured several others.

The man who crashed his vehicle through the front doors of a Michigan church, opened fire with an assault rifle and set the church ablaze was identified as Thomas Jacob Sanford, a 40-year-old former US Marine from the nearby town of Burton.

He killed at least four people and wounded at least eight before dying in a shootout with police, officials said.

Police said the perpetrator deliberately set fire to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which was engulfed in flames and billowing smoke.

An official with the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said investigators believed the shooter used an accelerant – probably gasoline – to fuel the fire, and that some explosives were recovered.

The FBI said it was leading the investigation of what it considered “an act of targeted violence”.Investigators would search the shooter’s home and phone in search of a motive, Grand Blanc Township police chief William Renye said.

US military records show Sanford was a US Marine from 2004 to 2008 and an Iraq war veteran.

Coincidentally, another 40-year-old Marine veteran who served in Iraq is a suspect in a North Carolina shooting that killed three people and wounded five others less than 14 hours before the Michigan incident.

James Deir, the Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Detroit Field Division said that agents located explosives during their investigation into the shooting.

He did not say where the explosives were found, but did confirm that Thomas Jacob Sanford used gasoline to start the fire in the church.

Specialist Lieutenant Kim Vetter of the Michigan State Police said that bomb threats were called in to other churches in the area after Sanford was shot and killed by police on Sunday morning.

She said that numerous churches had been checked by police and advised residents to remain vigilant and report anything unusual, but did not say there was an active threat at the time of the press conference.

Michigan church horror: 40-year-old suspect opened fire on hundreds of Mormon worshipers

A Sunday worship service turned into a scene of horror when a gunman rammed his vehicle into a Mormon church in Michigan before opening fire on congregants, killing two people and injuring at least eight others.

It all began around 10:25 a.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, about 50 miles north of Detroit, according to police. Hundreds of people, including children, were inside at the time at the time of the attack.

After the suspect’s pickup truck smashed through the front doors of the church, he emerged with an assault rifle and began firing on worshippers, Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renye said at a Sunday press conference.

Several cities have increased security measures on Sunday following the shooting, according to a report.

Additional law enforcement officers have been stationed at places of worship in Los Angeles and New York City following the deadly attack on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, CNN reports.

Both Los Angeles and New York City have increased patrols out of an abundance of caution, according to the report.

Just as Sunday service at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan, was getting underway, congregants heard a loud boom near the front of the church. Fearing that someone was injured, some moved toward the sound to help, but were met with gunfire.

A man police have identified as Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, of Burton, Michigan, rammed his Chevy Silverado truck — adorned with a pair of American flags in the bed — through the church’s front door and began firing an assault rifle at the hundreds of gathered worshippers. At some point, he set the church ablaze while terrified congregants were still trapped in the building.

By the time the shooting was over, one victim was dead, 9 others were wounded, and Sanford was killed in a gunfight with police. Later in the day, three more victims were declared dead; one from a gunshot wound, and two others who were found later in the evening inside the burned remains of the church.

A gunman opened fire inside a Michigan church during Sunday services, inflicting casualties after ramming his vehicle into the front door of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township.

It was the latest of many shooting attacks on houses of worship in the U.S. over the past 20 years. Here’s a list of some of the most notable attacks.