FBI confirms shooter in deadly Michigan church attack was motivated by hatred toward Mormons

By ISABELLA VOLMERT, Associated Press

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The man who opened fire in a Michigan church and set it ablaze was motivated by “anti-religious beliefs” against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the FBI confirmed Friday.

While friends close to the gunman in the deadly shooting have said he long harbored hatred against the church, the FBI had previously declined to specify the motivation behind the attack that left four people dead and the church burned to the ground, except to say it was “targeted” act of violence.

The gunman, Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, was killed by responding law enforcement.

“I am confirming this is a targeted act of violence believed to be motivated by the assailant’s anti-religious beliefs against the Mormon religious community,” special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit field office Jennifer Runyan said in a prerecorded video message.

Sanford drove his pickup truck into the side of the Church of Jesus Christ of of Latter-day Saints chapel in Grand Blanc Township, 60 miles northwest of Detroit, on Sunday, September 28, while congregants gathered for services. Authorities previously said he used gasoline as an accelerator to light the church on fire in the course of the shooting. The building was destroyed.

The four people who were killed have been identified through family and friends as Craig Hayden, William “Pat” Howard, John Bond and Thelma Armstrong.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is commonly known as the Mormon church. The church, based in Utah, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this month, leaders of the church preached a message of love and forgiveness while gathered to mourn its late president, who died a day before the Michigan attack.

A spokesperson for the FBI did not immediately respond to a request seeking further information on what led the agency to its conclusion of anti-religious beliefs.

Authorities have released little information about Sanford and the attack. People who knew him have said he began vocalizing anti-Mormon sentiments years ago after living in Utah for a period of time, where he dated and broke up with a girlfriend who was a member of the Mormon faith. Sanford had moved to Utah after leaving the Marines and told his friends he had become addicted to methamphetamines.

An attorney acting as a spokesperson for Sanford’s family did not immediately return a request for comment.