Hundreds of people were inside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel in Grand Blanc Township when a man rammed a pickup truck through the front door, then got out of the vehicle and started shooting, Police Chief William Renye told reporters. <\/p>\n
Investigators believe he \u201cdeliberately\u201d set the building on fire, Renye said.<\/p>\n
After the suspect left the church, two officers pursued him and \u201cengaged in gunfire,\u201d Renye said. The man was killed.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1759134788_738_a-vehicle-that-was-rammed-into-the-building-is-surrounded-by-6K2KYA2SNJBX3JYYND2H2IJCMQ.jpg\")
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A vehicle that was rammed into the building is surrounded by smoke as a firefighter works on the scene at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Flames and smoke could be seen pouring from the church for hours before the blaze was put out. First responders were then sifting through the wreckage. A four-door pickup with two American flags displayed in the truck bed remained on the scene.<\/p>\n
Renye identified the suspect as Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, from neighbouring Burton. Reyne did not specify a motive at a news conference. Renye said one of the wounded people was in critical condition and seven others were stable.<\/p>\n
The motive was not yet clear<\/p>\n
Investigators were searching the suspect\u2019s residence in nearby Burton. <\/p>\n
Authorities did not provide any additional details about the suspect, including whether he was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church.<\/p>\n
![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1759134788_669_in-this-image-taken-from-video-released-by-julie-j-malkowski-6FDYWTX37ZDIZPFIRFQEVKLFGM.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
In this image taken from video released by Julie J, @Malkowski6April, Massive flames and smoke rise from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
It was the latest of many shooting attacks on houses of worship in the US over the past 20 years, including one in August that killed two children during Mass at the Church of the Annunciation in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n
US president Donald Trump said he was briefed on the shooting. <\/p>\n
In a social media post, he applauded the FBI, who local authorities said are sending 100 agents to the area, for responding.<\/p>\n
\u201cPRAY for the victims, and their families. THIS EPIDEMIC OF VIOLENCE IN OUR COUNTRY MUST END, IMMEDIATELY!\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n
The church building, circled by a parking lot and a large lawn, is near residential areas and a Jehovah\u2019s Witness church. <\/p>\n
The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including Christopher Luxon defending the decision not to recognise Palestine, a Silver Ferns star has spoken out about the team\u2019s coaching drama, and 2025\u2019s Bird of the Year is named. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
It is in Grand Blanc Township, a community of roughly 40,000 people outside Flint.<\/p>\n
Tight-knit church community<\/p>\n
The impact spread quickly to neighbouring communities, including the small city that shares a name with the township.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough we are two separate governmental units, we are a very cohesive community,\u201d said city of Grand Blanc mayor John Creasey. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis sort of thing is painful for our entire community. I\u2019m struggling to digest all that has happened, and my heart goes out to all of the affected families.\u201d<\/p>\n
Timothy Jones, 48, said his family is part of another Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints congregation, or ward, about 15 minutes away, but that his children were at the Grand Blanc Township ward the night before the shooting for a youth fall festival. <\/p>\n
He and his family moved to Flint two years ago in large part because of how strong the faith’s community is in the area.<\/p>\n
As people in his congregation got word of the shooting from texts and phone calls during their own Sunday service, the church went into lockdown and police came as a precaution, he said. <\/p>\n
His children were “frantically, just trying to get word that people were okay.”<\/p>\n
Sundays are \u201csupposed to be a time of peace and a time of reflection and worship,\u201d Jones said. Yet in the wake of violence at other houses of worship across religions, a shooting \u201cfeels inevitable, and all the more tragic because of that\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement that her heart was breaking for the community. <\/p>\n
\u201cViolence anywhere especially in a place of worship, is unacceptable,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The shooting occurred the morning after Russell M Nelson, the oldest-ever president of the faith, died at 101. <\/p>\n
The next president is expected to be Dallin H. Oaks, per church protocol.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe church is in communication with local law enforcement as the investigation continues and as we receive updates on the condition of those affected,\u201d Doug Anderson, a spokesperson for Utah-based faith said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaces of worship are meant to be sanctuaries of peacemaking, prayer and connection. We pray for peace and healing for all involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some striking nurses at nearby Henry Ford Hospital left the picket line and ran the short distance to the church to help first responders, Teamsters Local 332 President Dan Glass said. \u201cHuman lives matter more than our labor dispute.\u201d Glass said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A gunman opened fire inside a Mormon church in Michigan during Sunday service before apparently setting the building…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[67,156,111,139,64,69,437],"class_list":["post-49734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-north-america","tag-nz","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}