A local politician has revealed his chilling conversation with the suspect in the deadly attack on a Michigan church just days before the shooting.
Four people were killed and eight were injured when a gunman drove into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc on Sunday morning before opening fire and setting the building on fire. The suspect, Thomas Jacob Sanford, was shot dead by police in the car park.
“There’s certain things you don’t forget,” Johns said. “This is not a forgettable guy.”
Johns met Sanford on September 22 when he was canvassing in the area and knocked on his door. Johns told CNN’s Laura Coates Live on Monday he soon realized that the suspect had a negative reaction to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“He was asking questions about church leaders and the history and the books of the Mormon Bible that are in addition to the traditional Bible,” Johns said of their 20-minute conversation.
“And he just expressed his displeasure at that. And ultimately, one of his final statements to me was that Mormons are the antichrist. And he said that several times.”
However, Johns said the suspect did not seem troubled or violent during their interaction.
“I saw a person who was calm and collected,” Johns said, noting that as a councillor he would have reported any potential risk to police.
“And this person that I spoke with one week ago, while angry, it was contained. I mean, on a scale of, if 10 was an attack on a church, he was at a one. He was less than a one.”
Johns also added Sanford made no discussions of politics or statements of violence.
“He was very focused on the Church of Latter-day Saints,” Johns said. “There was a personal held belief. There was a negative interaction that caused him to essentially turn his truck into a missile and destroy the church. And really, as of a week ago, he displayed none of the anger that he exhibited on Sunday morning.”
People who knew the suspect claimed his hatred of the Mormon Church stemmed from a relationship with a church member that ended badly.
“He got this whole fascination with Mormons, and they are the antichrist, and they are going to take over the world,” friend Francis Tersigni told The New York Times.
At Tersigni’s brother’s wedding, “All he could talk about was Mormons. I was like, dude, nobody wants to hear about this stuff.”
Sandra Winter, who was Sanford’s landlord in Utah, recalled how he had fallen in love with an “extremely religious” member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “He wasn’t so sure that he wanted to become a member of the church,” Winter said. “But he really wanted to be with this woman.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that FBI Director Kash Patel told her that Sanford hated Mormons. The FBI called the crime an act of “targeted violence” without pinning down a motive.
“From what I understand, based on my conversations with the FBI director, all they know right now is this was an individual who hated people of the Mormon faith, and they are trying to understand more about this, how premeditated it was, how much planning went into it, whether he left a note,’ Leavitt told Fox News.