FBI Suspects Michigan Church Shooter Hated People of the Mormon Faith

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Sept. 29 that the man accused of killing at least four people and injuring eight more at a church in Michigan hated Mormons.

“From what I understand, based on my conversations with the FBI director, all they know right now is this was an individual who hated people of the Mormon faith, and 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 have yet to be answered but certainly will be answered by the FBI,” she told Fox News in an interview on Sept. 29.

Leavitt said that search warrants are being executed at the home of the suspect, Thomas Jacob Sanford, to “get to the bottom of why he would commit such an act of evil.”

Sanford’s family is cooperating with the FBI, according to Leavitt. She did not provide more details about the suspect, who was killed by police during the incident.

Sanford, 40, allegedly drove a truck into a chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) in Grand Blanc before opening fire and setting the structure on fire during a Sunday service, officials said. The attacker allegedly used gasoline to start the fire and also had explosive devices, but it wasn’t clear whether he used them, according to James Dier of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

Investigators were searching Sanford’s residence. Authorities did not say what they found or provide any additional details, including whether he was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church.

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Alleged Mormon Church Shooter Identified — 42 Yr-Old Military Vet — Reportedly Has “ANTI-Trump/Pence” Sign on Fence Attached to His Garage

This morning, only moments after the violent attack on churchgoers in Grand Blanc, MI, the Gateway Pundit reported about the incident.

At the time of the incident, very little was known about the gunman who opened fire at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on McCandlish Road.

Early reports claimed that 6-8 victims of the gunman had been taken to the hospital, although the exact toll was not confirmed. Later, it was discovered that one person was killed by the alleged shooter and an additional 8 individuals were taken to the hospital. The church caught fire during the incident, triggering a massive four-alarm emergency response.

At a recent press conference, Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renye did not name the shooter, but did say that the suspect of the mass shooting inside the Mormon Church was a 40-year-old man from Burton, MI, a neighboring city just outside Grand Blanc, roughly 60 miles north of Detroit.

Now, it’s been confirmed that the alleged shooter, who was killed by law enforcement, is Thomas Jacob Sandford, a 40-year-old former U.S. Marine who fought in Iraq.

Law enforcement sources confirmed that investigators were stationed outside Sanford’s home on Atherton Road, which has been cordoned off as a crime scene. Property records list Sanford as the owner of both the residence and a 2008 GMC Sierra pickup truck, the same vehicle used to ram into the church during the attack.

The New York Post claims an old Facebook post by Sanford’s mother says the gunman — who died at the scene in a shootout with cops — served in Iraq from 2004-2008.

Law enforcement sources confirmed that Sanford, from nearby Burton, Michigan, is the shooting suspect. Sources told the Post that authorities also found several improvised explosive devices on church property, which a bomb squad was investigating.

The Gateway Pundit looked up the alleged shooter’s home address and found a Trump-Vance sign wedged behind a STOP sign on what appears to be his property, according to records. We verified his address on SmartBackgroundCheck.com and CheckMyVote.org, where we were able to view his voting record. It appears that the alleged shooter registered to vote in the 2018 midterms following Trump’s first presidential election victory in 2016.

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Iraq War veteran Thomas Sanford ID’d as gunman who attacked Grand Blanc LDS church, killing 2 and setting it ablaze

The deranged madman who killed at least two people and wounded nine others at a Michigan Latter-day Saints church, torching the building and opening fire on fleeing congregants and their families, has been identified as 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford, The Post can confirm.

Sanford, a US Marine veteran, according to his mom’s Facebook page, rammed his Chevy Silverado truck into the building before unleashing the assault on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, armed with a semi-automatic rifle.

An old Facebook post by Sanford’s mother says the gunman — who died at the scene in a shootout with cops — who served in Iraq from 2004-2008.

Law enforcement sources confirmed that Sanford, from nearby Burton, Michigan, is the line suspect.

The source of the blaze was not immediately known, but sources told The Post authorities found several improvised explosive devices on church property which a bomb squad was investigating.

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Photo Released of 29-Year-Old Dallas ICE Shooter — Agents Ransack His Bedroom and Uncover Handwritten “Terror Notes” Plotting to Kill ICE Employees

The Biden regime and its media allies love to cry “domestic terrorism” when it comes to parents at school board meetings or conservative Americans peacefully protesting at the Capitol.

But when the threat is directed at law enforcement heroes on the front lines of immigration enforcement, the very men and women who risk their lives to protect our borders, silence reigns.

Federal authorities have now confirmed that the 29-year-old man who opened fire on a Dallas ICE facility was not some random “lone wolf” but a premeditated domestic terrorist who left behind chilling handwritten terror notes, explicitly plotting to murder ICE agents and spread fear among federal employees tasked with enforcing immigration law.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that Patel has released several new pieces of evidence that blow up this ridiculous claim. Included in the evidence is a chilling note written by Jahn, which says, “Hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror, to think, ‘is there a sniper with AP rounds on that roof?”

@FBIDallas and FBI HQ have been working 24/7 to seize devices, exploit data, and process writings obtained on location and in the subject’s person/residence/bedroom. This @FBI is committed to providing timely updates, as promised:

– The perp downloaded a document titled “Dallas County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management” containing a list of DHS facilities.
– He conducted multiple searches of ballistics and the “Charlie Kirk Shot Video” between 9/23-9/24.
-Between 8/19-8/24, he searched apps that tracked the presence of ICE agents.
– One of the handwritten notes recovered read, “Hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror, to think, ‘is there a sniper with AP rounds on that roof?”
– Further accumulated evidence to this point indicates a high degree of pre-attack planning.

The FBI will provide further updates when able.

At a Thursday news conference, Dallas FBI Special Agent in Charge Joseph Rothrock revealed what investigators uncovered after agents tore through the Oklahoma home of shooter Joshua Jahn.

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Maine mass shooting survivors refile lawsuit after Pentagon watchdog report cites Army negligence

The survivors and family members of victims of the deadliest mass shooting in Maine history have refiled their lawsuit against the U.S. government following a new U.S. Department of Defense watchdog report that faults the U.S. Army for a high rate of failure to report violent threats by service members.

Eighteen people were killed in Lewiston in October 2023 when Robert Card opened fire at a bowling alley and a bar and grill. Dozens of survivors and relatives sued the federal government earlier this month on grounds that the U.S. Army could have stopped Card, a reservist, from carrying out the shootings.

Lawyers for the group filed their amended lawsuit on Tuesday. It cites a report issued by the inspector general for the Defense Department this month that concludes the Army failed to make mandatory reports of violent threats almost half the time.

Military law enforcement is required to report violent threats to the service’s military criminal investigative organization. The review found the Army did not consistently follow that policy in 32 of 67 violent threat investigations in 2023.

The report specifically mentions Card, who died by suicide two days after the shootings. It says failure to consistently report violent threats “could increase the risk of additional violent incidents by service members, such as what occurred with SFC (Sgt. 1st Class) Card.”

The longstanding pattern of unaddressed threats gives the Lewiston victims a stronger case, said Travis Brennan, an attorney for the group.

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U.S. Justice Department official ordered to drop inquiry into Sandy Hook lawsuit against Alex Jones

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has ordered a senior U.S. Justice Department official to drop an inquiry into a retired FBI agent’s involvement in a defamation lawsuit involving Alex Jones’ conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

Ed Martin Jr., who leads the Justice Department’s “weaponization working group,” sent a letter dated Sept. 15 to the Sandy Hook families’ lawyer asking for information about former FBI agent William Aldenberg, who responded to the 2012 school shooting and was a plaintiff in the lawsuit, along with victims’ relatives, that led to a $1.4 billion judgment against Jones for calling the massacre a hoax.

Martin’s letter suggested that he was looking into whether Aldenberg broke a federal law by receiving financial benefits for helping to organize the lawsuit. Jones, who said he met with Martin last week in Washington, has accused Democrats and Justice Department officials of orchestrating the lawsuit to silence him.

But Martin’s correspondence to Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families, and Aldenberg, “caused frustrations” within the Justice Department, and Blanche directed Martin to withdraw the letter, said the person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal agency matters.

Mattei said he received a new letter from Martin on Wednesday that said there was no investigation of Aldenberg and “I hereby withdraw my request for information.”

“Less than 18 hours after calling out Alex Jones and Ed Martin for their corrupt use of the Department of Justice to harass Sandy Hook families and the heroic FBI agent who ran into that school to save any children he could, I am happy to learn that this so-called inquiry has now been withdrawn, if it ever existed at all,” Mattei said in a statement.

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Another Leftist Shooter Attacks Country Club Wedding In New Hampshire

America is suffering from leftist fatigue. Three left wing shooters in the span of a week, from the murder of Charlie Kirk to an attack on an ABC affiliate station in Sacramento to the most recent event – A shooting at a country club wedding in Nashua, New Hampshire. 

This is, of course, not counting the transgender killer who murdered 2 children and wounded 18 others at a catholic school in Minneapolis the week before the Charlie Kirk assassination.  In every case there has been clear intent of politically motivated violence.  Democrats and woke activists continue to deny they have any culpability, but after a decade of demonizing everyone who disagrees with them as “fascists and Nazis”, isn’t this the end result they always wanted?

The suspect, identified as 23-year-old Hunter Nadeau, was arrested and charged with one count of second-degree murder.  Witnesses heard the man scream “The children are safe, free Palestine!” as he started shooting, killing one person and wounding two others before he was hit in the head with a chair by a female party member and ran away with his head bleeding.

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Under the Radar: Nation Ignores Latest School Shooting; Bx Investigates

With the compounding of last week’s horrific events and traumatic anniversaries, many missed (or simply couldn’t process) the Evergreen High School shooting.

Bx is an investigative journalist and the civilian authority on Satanic accelerationism networks that are repeatedly revealed as connected to mass trauma events. While the eyes of the nation were on Charlie Kirk, Bx was looking at Evergreen:

“On September 10, 2025, as the nation reeled from the public assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk during a speaking engagement in Utah, another Com/764 connected school shooting unfolded in the quiet town of Evergreen, Colorado. Kirk’s death – which has been described as the most high-profile political assassination since MLK – resulted in a nationwide manhunt, sparked a slew of conspiracy theories, and dominated the headlines for days. The resulting chaos allowed the Evergreen High School shooting to slip under the radar, only emerging several days later as the ADL and other left-leaning influencers tried to paint it as a neo-Nazi motivated attack to distract from right-leaning calls for justice in Kirk’s death. A tragedy can truly never go to waste in America.

The Evergreen school shooting and the Charlie Kirk assassination took place almost simultaneously. Kirk was shot at 12:23pm and the first 911 call reporting an active shooter at Evergreen High School was made at 12:30pm. Unlike the widespread media coverage of other recent school shootings – the Annunciation Church school shooting in Minneapolis, the Antioch High School shooting in Nashville, and the Abundant Life Christian School attack in Madison, Wisconsin – the Evergreen High School shooting was barely a blip on the radar. Early reports were scant, but it was reported that 2 students were in critical condition and that the shooter had died. The chaos of the day made it very difficult to follow both stories as they unfolded. […]

Holly’s digital footprint had ties to online subcultures like the True Crime Community (TCC) and Order of Nine Angles (O9A) influenced groups like 764 and NLM, drawing obvious parallels to the recent shootings perpetrated by Solomon Henderson in January and Natalie Rupnow in December. This footprint has been referred to by the FBI as Nihilistic Violent Extremism (NVE) and points to a decentralized web of online influences that intersects with harmful groups such as 764, NLM, and Com.”

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The Statistics War Over School Shootings Since Columbine, Especially By Transgender Shooters

Since the horrific Columbine shooting in April 1999, there’ve been a tragic number of American public and religious school shootings. No matter how “experts” gloss over their statistics, if a single death is a tragedy, mass killings are light years beyond “tragedy.”

Having lost a son in high school – not from shooting, but from another life-altering catastrophe – I can only imagine the tidal wave of grief engulfing the family and friends of those lost children.

Much less reported, though nonetheless a tragedy, is that a disproportionate number of these shootings were perpetrated by those who identify as “transgender.” 

Triggered by this latest shooting, I went looking for the real stats, trying to discover how much tragedy is really out there. I sought what most media shy away from. 

As a trained journalist, I dug deep, recalling that:

If you want to know how many school shootings have occurred, just check the stats. 

I’d learned this in J-School: Numbers never lie. Of course, my pre-Watergate profs assumed credible sources had credible numbers.    

Right? Well, maybe. But don’t count on it.

While citing traditionally credible sources, the one that seems most honest in pointing out that nobody knows which stats to refer to as they judge the horrific impact of school shootings, Al Jazeera – a source I never thought I’d cite – said it clearly on August 28, 2025. 

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FBI Prevents Potential Mass Shooting at a Preschool

FBI Director Kash Patel said the FBI prevented a potential mass shooting at a preschool after agents arrested a man who allegedly posted threatening messages online. 

Writing under the username “CommentatorsHateMe,” Zachary Charles Newell allegedly posted a comment on YouTube indicating his intention to “shoot up” a preschool and kill black children.

According to the complaint, that was not the only instance of Newell allegedly writing threatening and racist posts.

“The comments posted by this suspect were violent, hateful and shocking to the conscience,” Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck told Fox News Digital in a statement. “Our office worked swiftly to take this subject into custody and worked with the [FBI] to subsequently have him placed into federal custody. … Suspects who make these types of comments will be dealt with as severely as the law allows.”

Google LLC reported the threats to the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center on Aug. 31, having linked the “CommentatorsHateMe” account to an email registered to Newell, with associated phone numbers and an address.

Law enforcement traced the account’s IP address to Charter Communications in Newport, and on Aug. 31, Carteret County Sheriff’s Office deputies confronted Newell at his home. 

Newell allegedly admitted to making the YouTube comment, according to the complaint. 

A search warrant was executed at his home, and he was initially charged in state court with communicating a threat of mass violence on educational property.

The Carteret County Sheriff’s Office told Fox News Digital Newell was given a $30,000 bond by a state magistrate, where he was able to post bond. 

Later that evening, the sheriff’s office worked with the FBI to take him into federal custody on federal charges. Additional charges will be forthcoming by the FBI. (Fox News Digital)

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