GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP, MI – A Sunday morning attack at a Grand Blanc church that left five people dead and eight others injured struck a tight-knit church community with thousands of members in Michigan.
The Grand Blanc congregation is part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon church, a small, yet growing religion headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The church adheres to a Christian view of God and considers itself Christian. But its beliefs differ from traditional Christianity, with the church following the teachings of its founder Joseph Smith, who members consider a prophet. That’s why some Christian denominations reject Mormonism.
In Michigan, there are nearly 47,000 Latter-day Saint church members who attend 99 congregations.
Mark Hunsaker, a communications director at the Grand Rapids Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said even though Grand Blanc is two hours away, the church is “pretty tied together.”
Since the shooting, he’s heard from members who had friends or family attending in Grand Blanc, a suburb of Flint.
“It does hit much closer to home than something out of state or on the other side of the country,” Hunsaker said. “It’s very real for members here, as they have some touch points.”
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The Grand Blanc church was what’s called a “stake center,” meaning it was a larger building where people from different congregations gathered for special events. It also hosted regular Sunday services for roughly 150 people that lasted for two hours, one hour of worship followed by an hour teaching and classes.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also has one temple in Detroit with a second currently being constructed in Grand Rapids. A temple, which hosts sacred ceremonies like marriages, is different from a chapel where churchgoers gather for Sunday worship.
Hunsaker says members historically had to travel to big temples, but there’s been a push in recent years to build smaller temples in more communities.
“It’s available in the communities where the members are,” he said. “It also allowed the church to expand much faster.”
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints responded to the shooting in Grand Blanc within hours on Sunday, calling it a “tragic act of violence” and saying the church remains “in communication with local law enforcement as the investigation continues.”
A motive for the attack still remains hazy.
The violence started roughly 25 minutes into the Sunday, Sept. 28 service when police say a gunman drove a vehicle into the front doors and opened fire. It’s also believed the shooter set a fire that destroyed the building before he was fatally shot by law enforcement.
Reuben Coleman, acting special agent in charge of FBI Detroit Field Office, called it an “act of targeted violence” while urging the public to avoid speculation.
“When I say targeted, I mean targeted within our state community,” he said during a Monday press briefing.
Meanwhile, a picture has started to emerge of the alleged gunman, Thomas Jacob Sanford, a U.S. Marine veteran who unleashed a hostile tirade against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, just days before the shooting.
Burton City Council candidate Kris Johns said he met Sanford while campaigning door to door on East Atherton Road near Center Road on Sept. 22. After chatting for a couple of minutes, Johns said Sanford brought up the church, repeatedly saying “Mormons are the anti-Christ.”
White House press secretary Karoline Levitt said during an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends” that investigators are looking into Sandford’s bitterness toward the church as a possible 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,” she said.
But officials with the FBI Detroit field office have not confirmed any of those details yet.
The attack is the latest in a string of violence against places of worship following a shooting at a Minnesota Catholic school in late August, two women were shot at a Kentucky church in July and a June shooting that was thwarted by a church security guard in Michigan.
“I was so proud to see powerful statements from interfaith leaders across Michigan denouncing this attack on the house of worship. They grieved for this congregation as though it was their own,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said. “They spoke with one voice, with a basic principle that we all believe in: They should be able to pray in peace in our state, no matter who you are.”