Michigan church shooting suspect went on anti-LDS rant in days leading up to shooting, local political candidate says

The man accused of killing four people at a Michigan church on Sunday went on a rant describing Latter-day Saints as “the antichrist” just days before the shooting, a local political candidate claims.

Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, has been accused of ramming his truck into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, and opening fire at hundreds of worshippers on Sunday morning. Police say Sanford also lit the building on fire. Four victims were killed and eight people were injured. Sanford was killed at the scene by police.

Kris Johns, a city council candidate in Burton, Michigan, says he spoke with the 40-year-old while canvassing on September 22, The Detroit Free Press reports.

He described Sanford as “extremely friendly” and someone not seemingly violent towards the church. He admitted, however, that their conversation took a “very sharp turn” when religion was mentioned, leading to the suspect describing Mormons as “the antichrist.”

“It was very much standard anti-LDS talking points that you would find on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook,” Johns said.

Johns said he realized he had spoken to the suspected gunman when he saw his photo circulating after the shooting. He then called the FBI and Michigan State Police, he told the Detroit Free Press. The Independent has contacted both agencies for comment.

The city council candidate said he spoke with Sanford at his Burton home for about 20 minutes, the Detroit Free Press reports.

They talked about their children, including Sanford’s son, who has a rare condition called hyperinulinism. Sanford told Johns that he had, at one point, moved to Utah to plow snow and had a relationship with a woman there whose family members were Latter-day Saints.

Sanford asked several open-ended questions about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including about the Book of Mormon and the history of the religious movement, according to the Detroit Free Press.

“I just didn’t know what the next question was going to be,” Johns, who is a remember of the Solid Rock Community Church in Burton, said. After questioning the prospective city councillor gave, however, Sanford called members of the church “the antichrist.”

Johns said there was no mention of politics or current events, but he did spot a sign supporting President Donald Trump on Sanford’s fence. Sanford has also been identified in a social media photo wearing a pro-Trump t-shirt with the slogan, “Make Liberals Cry Again.”

While Sanford voted in November elections in 2024, 2022, 2020, 2018 and 2016, he doesn’t have a record of voting in primaries, which means his party affiliation can’t be determined from election records, the Detroit Free Press reports.

Sanford also confided that he had struggled with drug addiction after serving in Iraq, Johns told the Detroit Free Press. Sanford served as a U.S. Marine from 2004 to 2008, and was deployed to Iraq in 2007.

This comes after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that investigators believe Sanford “hated people of the Mormon faith.”

“From what I understand, based on my conversations with the FBI director, all they know right now is that this was an individual who hated people of the Mormon faith,” Leavitt said on Monday morning.

“They are trying to understand more about this, how premeditated it was, how much planning went into it, whether he left a note. All of those questions are yet to be answered but certainly will be answered by the FBI,” she added.

Local officials declined to comment on Sanford’s motive at a press conference on Monday afternoon. They did, however, share updates on the eight victims injured in the shooting.

Henry Ford Genesys Hospital treated eight people, ages 6 to 78, after the shooting. Five people were treated for gunshot wounds, and three people were treated for smoke inhalation, hospital officials said on Monday afternoon.

One person died in the emergency department, while at least two victims remain in critical condition, officials said. Two smoke inhalation patients have been discharged, while the third remains intubated. A child was also initially stabilized at the facility before they were transferred to another hospital.