Police have identified the attacker as a 40-year-old resident of Burton, Michigan, named Thomas Jacob Sanford. Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renye told a press conference that on Sunday morning, during the prayer service, the attacker, Thomas Jacob, rammed his vehicle into the church's front door to gain entry. He then exited the vehicle and began shooting. The impact of the car ignited a fire at the church entrance.
According to officials at the 28 September press conference, seven of the eight injured victims are in stable condition, while one is in critical condition. Authorities claim that at 10:25 a.m., the suspect drove his car into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, a suburb of Flint, Michigan, where hundreds of people were attending the service.
"We can't come to those kinds of conclusions for some time," Lt. Kim Vetter, Michigan State Police, said when pressed by a reporter.
Who is Thomas Jacob Sanford?
According to a report from USA Today, Sanford seems to have served in the U.S.S. Marines, based on what Sanford's mother has posted on her Facebook page. According to a 2007 Clarkston News story, Sanford served time in Iraq and Japan after graduating from Goodrich High School in 2003. At the time, the newspaper called his military career "stellar.".
According to the newspaper, Stellar, he won awards "on the rifle range," served in Okinawa, Japan, and rose to the rank of sergeant before being deployed to Fallujah, Iraq. According to the paper, he assisted in the recovery of damaged vehicles as a wrecker driver. Sanford's mother shared a picture of him wearing his Marine uniform on social media. "We are grateful to our son. service from 2004 to 2008. "Vietnam of Iraq!" she wrote.
Sanford served in the Marines from 2004 to 2008, according to a 2015 article in the Lake Orion Review. According to the report, he also briefly worked at a Coca-Cola facility, though it was not made clear what role he held there.
