Investigators seek motive for Michigan church attack that killed 4

Investigators with the truck driven by the gunman in the attack on Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Mich., on Monday, Sept. 29, 2025. At least four people were killed after a gunman attacked the church on Sunday, the authorities said. (Nick Hagen/The New York Time

By CHARLOTTE DULANY, THOMAS FULLER and CHRISTINA MORALES

Investigators on Monday were digging into the life of the man who killed four people in a suburban Michigan community over the weekend, as well as the fiery remains of the church he attacked in the middle of a Sunday morning worship service.

The motive for the attack on a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meeting house in Grand Blanc Township remained unclear. It was being classified as an “act of targeted violence,” not terrorism, until the investigation has been completed, said Reuben Coleman, the acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, though, said the attacker appeared to harbor religious hatred. “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,” Leavitt said in a Monday morning appearance on Fox News.

“They are trying to understand more about this, how premeditated it was, how much planning went into it, whether he left a note,” she added. The man’s family was cooperating with investigators, Leavitt said.

Authorities identified the attacker as Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, of Burton, Michigan. He was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police, authorities said.

Sanford went to high school nearby and served for four years in the Marine Corps, achieving the rank of sergeant, military records show. They indicate that he was a member of a vehicle recovery crew in Iraq, which may have put him in hostile territory, exposing him to enemy fire and the improvised explosive devices used often in that war.

The attack Sunday morning shattered a worship service in Grand Blanc, a town of about 8,000 people near Flint. The attacker drove a four-door pickup truck with two American flags prominently hoisted from the cab, crashing the truck into the church building and opening fire, police said. A blaze then consumed the church.

Two people died of gunshot wounds, authorities said, and the bodies of two more people were found later in the wreckage of the building.

At least eight people were injured and rushed to the emergency room. They ranged in age from 6 to 78, according to Dr. Michael Danic of Henry Ford Genesys Hospital, where they were treated. Five had gunshot wounds, and three were treated for smoke inhalation, he said.

One of the patients died at the hospital, he said, and two remained in critical condition Monday afternoon.

One of them, Ben Phelps, was shot in the abdomen, according to his mother, Beckie Swainston, who rushed to Michigan from her home in Idaho on Sunday after hearing the news. Phelps’ son, she said, was shot in the arm and has been released from the hospital.

Phelps’ wife, Danalee, who was also at the church, is too traumatized to talk about what happened, Swainston said. “It just reduces her to tears,” she said.

Investigators continued to comb through the wreckage of the burned-out church Monday. James Deir, the special agent in charge with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the agency was examining “improvised explosive devices” that were recovered after the attack.

No more victims are expected to be found in the charred remains. Everyone who was in the church at the time of the attack has been accounted for, authorities said.

Neighbors of Sanford said they were shocked that he had been named as the attacker, describing him as a friendly person who would plow their driveways in the winter for free.

Chief William Renye of the Grand Blanc Township Police Department said Sanford had previously been arrested and charged with burglary and driving while intoxicated.

In an article from a decade ago, The Lake Orion Review, a local newspaper, reported on several medical problems facing Sanford’s son, Brantlee, who was a newborn at the time. Doctors removed a large part of the child’s pancreas.

Sanford was described as a truck driver for Coca-Cola in the article.