Gunman kills at least 4 people and injures 8 in a US church

A man who crashed his car into the front doors of a church in Michigan, USA, opened fire with an assault rifle and set the church on fire, killing at least four and wounding at least eight, before dying in a shootout with police, officials said, according to UNN, citing Reuters.

Details

Police said the perpetrator, identified as 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford, a former US Marine from the nearby city of Burton, deliberately set fire to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which was engulfed in flames and plumes of smoke.

Two of those injured in the shooting died, and eight others were hospitalized, officials said. Hours after the shooting, police reported finding at least two bodies in the charred ruins of the church, which had not yet been cleared, and there might have been other victims.

"There are several missing," Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renye said at a press conference.

A representative of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said investigators believe the shooter used fuel - likely gasoline - to start the fire, and some explosives were found. The FBI said it was investigating what it considers an act of targeted violence.

According to Renye, hundreds of people were in the church when Sanford drove into the building.

Two law enforcement officers arrived at the scene within 30 seconds of receiving the emergency call and began a shootout with the suspect, killing him in the parking lot approximately eight minutes after the incident began, Renye said.

Investigators will search the shooter's home and phone to determine the motive for the crime, Renye said.

According to US military records, Sanford was a US Marine from 2004 to 2008 and an Iraq War veteran.

Coincidentally, another 40-year-old Marine veteran who served in Iraq is a suspect in a shooting in North Carolina that killed three people and wounded five less than 14 hours before the Michigan incident.

Southport, North Carolina police charged Nigel Max Edge with shooting at a waterfront bar from a boat on Saturday night. Edge was charged with three counts of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder, police said.

According to court records, a federal lawsuit filed by Edge against the US government and others describes him as a decorated Marine who suffered severe injuries, including a traumatic brain injury, in Iraq. The lawsuit, which was dismissed, stated that before changing his name, Edge was known as Sean William Debevoise.

US President Donald Trump said in a statement on Truth Social that the shooting "appears to be another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America" and that "this epidemic of violence in our country must be stopped immediately!"

Additional information

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the Mormon Church, follows the teachings of Jesus and the prophecies of Joseph Smith, a 19th-century American.

Grand Blanc, a city of 7,700 people, is located approximately 100 km northwest of Detroit.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, this tragedy in Michigan was the 324th mass shooting in the US in 2025.

It is also the third mass shooting in the US in less than 24 hours, including the incident in North Carolina and a shooting that occurred hours later at a casino in Eagle Pass, Texas, which killed at least two people and injured several.