{"id":182701,"date":"2025-10-01T14:16:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T14:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/182701\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T14:16:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T14:16:09","slug":"mormon-church-members-raise-over-150k-for-family-of-michigan-church-shooter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/182701\/","title":{"rendered":"Mormon church members raise over $150K for family of Michigan church shooter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have collectively raised more than $150,000 for the family of Thomas Jacob Sanford, the shooter who killed four people in an attack on a church<\/a> in Michigan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The GiveSendGo campaign, as of Wednesday morning, has reached at least $152,000. On Sunday, Sanford opened fire<\/a> at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township before setting the property ablaze.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“One of the families that suffered a terrible loss on that day was the family of Thomas Jacob Sanford, the shooter. Sanford leaves behind a wife and children who must be grieving,” wrote David Butler, the organizer of the fundraising effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Butler described himself as an “ordinary member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” with no connections to either Sanford or Grand Blanc Township. Those who recently donated identified themselves as LDS church members from states including Missouri, Hawaii and Utah.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MICHIGAN CHURCH SHOOTER\u2019S ROMANCE HISTORY EMERGES AS SUSPECT\u2019S FATHER APOLOGIZES TO VICTIMS\u2019 FAMILIES<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Michigan <\/p>\n

Fire and law enforcement officers stand outside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025 in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan. On the right is suspect Thomas Jacob Sanford. (AP; Facebook\/Tella Sanford)<\/p>\n

“[Sanford\u2019s family]\u00a0will face financial hardship and psychological trauma as a result of this week’s horrifying events. On top of that, one of the Sanford sons deals with serious medical challenges that require ongoing care, treatment, and specialized support,” Butler added. “In the past, the family attempted to raise funds for him, but with limited success.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Every donation will go to help provide for the Sanford family daily needs, provide for ongoing medical treatment, and create some stability in a time of heartbreak and upheaval,” he also said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The outpouring of support comes as two friends of Sanford told The Associated Press that he long harbored hatred toward The Church of Jesus Christ<\/a> of Latter-day Saints.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sanford began making those sentiments known years ago following his return from Utah, where he dated but later broke up with a girlfriend who was a member of the Mormon faith,<\/a> the two childhood friends said. Sanford had moved to Utah after leaving the Marines and told his friends he had become addicted to methamphetamines, according to the AP.\u00a0<\/p>\n

WHO IS THOMAS JACOB SANFORD? WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE MICHIGAN CHURCH SHOOTER<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Man <\/p>\n

Dan Beazley, of Northville, Michigan, prays during a vigil held at the Henry Ford Genesys Regional Hospital for the Sunday morning shooting at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025.\u00a0 (AP\/Ryan Sun)<\/p>\n

One time that Sanford spouted off about his grievances against the church was at a wedding 13 years ago, one of the friends said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We were like, \u2018come on,\u2019 we don\u2019t want to hear this,”\u00a0Bobby Kalush, who grew up down the road from Sanford, told the AP. “When he came back from Utah, he was a completely different person.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Around bonfires with friends, it wasn’t unusual for Sanford to start talking about how Mormons were going to take over, added Frances Tersigni.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It was just so random. It was like, \u2018Why Mormons dude?\u2019” Tersigni said. “It’s hard to explain. We didn\u2019t take it serious.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Burned-out <\/p>\n

Little remained of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel the day after a Marine veteran opened fire and set the building ablaze in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan. (AP\/Mark Vancleave)<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

“He never once, never, said \u2018I\u2019ve got to do something,\u2019”\u00a0Tersigni added. “There’s a Jake we all knew, and there was one who was hidden. It wasn\u2019t apparent to us.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[49,48,26933,75,92154,1447,92153,348,182,1895],"class_list":["post-182701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-crime-world","tag-entertainment","tag-faith-personal-freedoms","tag-michigan","tag-midwest","tag-tv","tag-us","tag-utah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182701","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=182701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}