Michigan church attacker said to have held grudge against Mormons
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Thomas Jacob Sanford crashed a four-door pickup truck into a Michigan church building on Sept 28, killing four people.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Tim Arango, Anushka Patil and Thomas Fuller
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MICHIGAN – The former Marine accused of killing four people in a fiery attack on a Michigan church
The animosity, the friends said, stemmed from a break-up with a religious girlfriend more than a decade ago and led the man to rant about the church at his best friend’s wedding, refer to it as the antichrist and, just days before the attack, spew invective against Mormons at a canvassing politician.
The attacker, identified by the authorities as Thomas Jacob Sanford, crashed a four-door pickup truck displaying two American flags into the church building in Grand Blanc Township near Flint, Michigan, during a worship service on the morning of Sept 28 and then opened fire with an assault-style weapon.
A blaze later consumed the church.
Victims as young as six were ripped by gunshots. Sanford, 40, was shot dead by the police.
The authorities said on Sept 29 that they were still investigating what they described as a “targeted act of violence” on the morning of Sept 28.
Two people died of gunshot wounds in the attack, the authorities said, and the bodies of two more people were found later in the wreckage of the burnt building. It was not immediately clear how they died.
Dr Michael Danic, medical chief of staff at Henry Ford Genesys Hospital, praised the actions of parishioners for saving others.
“Those on the scene were absolute heroes,” he said, “going in and out of the fire to drag people out, and helping each other to take care of the victims”.
Investigators continued to comb through the wreckage of the scorched church on Sept 29, collecting evidence, while others looked through homes, computers and social media accounts associated with Sanford, seeking more clues about his motives and planning.
Mr James Deir, the special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the agency was examining “improvised explosive devices” that were recovered after the attack.
No more victims are expected to be found in the charred remains. Everyone who was in the church at the time of the attack has been accounted for, the authorities said. NYTimes
