Just as Sunday service at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan, was getting underway, congregants heard a loud boom near the front of the church. Fearing that someone was injured, some moved toward the sound to help, but were met with gunfire.
A man police have identified as Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, of Burton, Michigan, rammed his Chevy Silverado truck — adorned with a pair of American flags in the bed — through the church’s front door and began firing an assault rifle at the hundreds of gathered worshippers. At some point, he set the church ablaze while terrified congregants were still trapped in the building.
