Two people died, eight people were injured in a shooting at a Mormon church in Michigan
At least two people were killed and eight others were injured in the shooting and shooting at the Latter-day Saints Church of Jesus Christ in Grand Blanc, Michigan.
- Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, was identified as a suspect in the shooting of a deadly church in Michigan.
- Sanford was a US Marine veteran who served in Iraq from 2004 to 2008.
- The suspect’s son fought a rare illness called high insulinism and led his family to seek professional treatment in Texas.
Michigan law enforcement has identified 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford of Burton, Michigan, as the suspect who killed two people and injured eight people when he plunged a pickup truck into a central Michigan church and fired fire.
One of the eight injured victims is in danger, while the other seven are in stable condition, officials said at a press conference on the evening of September 28th.
Hundreds of people attended services at the Latter-day Saints’ Church of Jesus Christ in Grand Blanc, a suburb of Flint, Michigan.
The suspect then left the vehicle and fired “several rounds” with an attack rifle at people inside the church, Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renee said. Sanford passed away after exchanging a shootout with officers responding in the church parking lot.
Here’s what we know about Sanford:
Thomas Jacob Sanford lived in a nearby town.
The suspect’s Burton’s hometown is about eight miles north of Grand Blanc, Michigan.
According to records and past news reports, the suspect also passed “Jake” by many acquaintances.
Veterans of the Iraq War
According to a post on a Facebook page by Sanford’s mother, Sanford appears to be a veteran of the US Marine Corps.
In one post, Sanford’s mother posted a photo of him in a Marine Corps uniform. “Thank you to my son. Services 2004-2008.. Iraqi Veteran!!,” she wrote.
A 2015 article in the Lake Orion Review also mentioned Sanford, who served in the Marine Corps from 2004 to 2008. He worked at a Coca-Cola facility for a period of time, but with which capacity he was unclear.
The Department of Defense did not respond to a request from USA Today seeking information on Sanford’s military records.
My son fought a rare disease of hyperinphosphorusia
Sanford’s son Brantley was born about 10 years ago in a rare condition called Hyperinlin. There, high levels of insulin increased the risk of brain complications.
The doctors were unable to diagnose him, and the family ended up at a dead end after a dead end.
“We discovered that Brantley had problems right after his birth,” Sanford said in an interview about their experiences in 2016. “It was a nightmare for us. We slowly realized that Brantley wasn’t the typical premature baby.”
That was until one day they received a call that changed their prognosis.
“My sister sent me a newsletter from Children’s Hospital in Texas called Cook Children’s. I emailed the author of this article on congenital high insulinism while waiting for a miracle to occur,” Sanford said.
One of the doctors called for the family. Along with the baby, Sanford and his wife Terra travelled to cook a congenital high insulinism center for children in Texas and an endocrine diabetes program, one of the few centers in the country that treats the disease.
Reach Joey Garrison with X @joeygarrison.
