Thomas Jacob Sanford<\/a>, fired several rounds from an assault weapon at the worshippers.\n <\/p>\n\n Brian, another churchgoer whose button-down shirt had been stained with blood, told WXYZ he was trying to help some of the elderly ladies into his car when he was injured. His right hand, wrapped in gauze, was likely injured when the gunman opened fire on their vehicle, he said.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe were trying to gather as many people as we could,\u201d Brian said. \u201cI saw the active shooter come out of the building, and at that point, I just started trying to drive away,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Paula couldn\u2019t see the shooter, she said, and didn\u2019t know whether he had entered the church.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know if we had to get down, because we couldn\u2019t see anybody,\u201d she said, calling the moment surreal.\n <\/p>\n
\n Churchgoers also rushed to protect children, Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renye said at a news conference Sunday.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThey were shielding the children who are also present within the church, moving them to safety,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Some of the primary children she taught on Sundays, Paula said, were hurt. She said she joined the Grand Blanc church \u2014 the same building attacked on Sunday \u2014 38 years ago. That morning, she had picked up a friend for church service and chatted with others inside before the shots rang out.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s devastating to know I lost friends,\u201d she said, her voice breaking.\n <\/p>\n
\n The Grand Blanc chapel sits on McCandlish Road, a quiet stretch dotted with houses near a sprawling golf course and lake. A parking lot and large lawn surround the red brick meeting house, where its lone, white spire had loomed large.\n <\/p>\n
\n Scores of emergency sirens reverberated along the hushed road Sunday morning as police officers responded to the scene less than 30 seconds after the first call to 911, Renye said.\n <\/p>\n
\n As the suspect fled the church, two officers pursued him and \u201cengaged in gunfire,\u201d the police chief said. He was killed in the parking lot eight minutes after police arrived.\n <\/p>\n
\n Responders\u2019 full attention turned to rescuing victims.\n <\/p>\n
\n Firefighters battled the blaze and the thick clouds of smoke for hours as people behind the police cordon looked on in disbelief. Survivors gathered at the reunification center and hugged each other in tears.\n <\/p>\n
\n Authorities are still combing through debris and \u201cworking tirelessly to find additional bodies,\u201d Renye said Sunday evening, unable to define how many people are still missing.\n <\/p>\n
\n Up to seven people were possibly still unaccounted for as authorities concluded search efforts for the night late Sunday, a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told CNN.\n <\/p>\n
![\"Emergency](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/gettyimages-2237615035.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n When striking nurses at nearby Henry Ford Genesys Hospital heard about the shooting, some left the picket line and ran the short distance to the church to help first responders, Teamsters Local 332 President Dan Glass said.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cHuman lives matter more than our labor dispute,\u201d Glass said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Brian, the churchgoer, said he\u2019s worried about his fellow worshippers.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe don\u2019t know the status of them,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n
\n The police chief said they believe some victims were \u201cnear the fire and they were unable to get out of the church.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Cindy Walsh, who lives near the chapel, was at home watching TV when she heard the gunshots and came outside to investigate.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cAll of a sudden, I saw smoke coming out and then people were coming out,\u201d she told WXYZ.\n <\/p>\n
\n The blaze moved rapidly, engulfing the chapel and sending massive plumes of thick, black smoke across the sky. The destruction was evident from the road which was cordoned off.\n <\/p>\n
\n Details around the blaze are still being investigated. Authorities are \u201ctrying to determine exactly when and where that fire ended up coming from and how it got started,\u201d though they believe the suspect started the fire \u201cdeliberately,\u201d Renye added.\n <\/p>\n
\n Sanford used an accelerant, like gasoline, police believe, to light the church on fire, said James Deir, special agent in charge of the Detroit field division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Evidence technicians went to process the scene after the fire was extinguished, and investigators said they found \u201csome suspected explosive devices.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019m shaken, I\u2019m very shaken,\u201d Walsh said. \u201cI\u2019ve seen a change in this world, there\u2019s so much hate in this world, I just don\u2019t understand it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The chapel, once bathed in sunlight and surrounded by greenery, is now unrecognizable. The building is a \u201ctotal loss,\u201d Renye said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Debris piles have replaced pews; the welcoming meeting house has closed its doors; and the LDS church\u2019s mounting grief has swelled.\n <\/p>\n
\n And the tall white spire, which once towered over Grand Blanc worshippers as it reached toward heaven, is gone.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Far below the towering and piercing spires atop every Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[49,48,75,348],"class_list":["post-176960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Church](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/gettyimages-2237635076.jpg\")
<\/p>\n