What we know on Thomas Jacob Sanford, suspect in the Michigan church shooting

The person accused in a fatal shooting and fire Sunday at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, is a 40-year-old area man with a military background.

Thomas Jacob Sanford is from Burton, a city of nearly 30,000 people roughly 6 miles from Grand Blanc Township. Both are suburbs of Flint.

Police said the attacker rammed the church with a vehicle, got out and opened fire with an assault rifle. James Deir, special agent in charge of the Detroit Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said he also appears to have used an accelerant to start a fire.

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At least four people were killed in the attack, two of whom were shot, and eight were injured.

Officers killed Sanford in a parking lot behind the church, police said.

The FBI’s special agent in charge of the bureau’s Detroit field office, Reuben Coleman, said Sunday night that the bureau is looking for a motive.

“The FBI is now leading the investigation and is investigating this as an act of targeted violence,” he said.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, in a Monday press conference, acknowledged the desire to question what happened and to determine a motive. But she also urged people to refrain from theorizing as authorities continue to investigate.

“At this juncture, speculation is unhelpful and it can be downright dangerous,” Whitmer said. “So just ask that people lower the temperature of rhetoric.”

Sanford’s family has “no answers” for his actions and are in shock, his father said in an exclusive statement to NBC News.

“We are devastated; we don’t know what to think,” the statement said. “Our hearts and prayers go out to the Grand Blanc community and all those affected by this tragedy.”

Sanford joined the Marine Corps in 2004, according to Marine records, and held the titles of organizational automotive mechanic and vehicle recovery operator.

In 2007, he started a nearly seven-month deployment under Operation Iraqi Freedom and left the corps a few months later, the records show.

Sanford achieved the rank of sergeant and had his last duty assignment at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina before he left the Marines in June 2008, according to the records.

He was awarded the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal, the records show.

An image uploaded to Facebook in 2019 shows Thomas Jacob Sanford wearing a “TRUMP 2020” shirt.

The image was uploaded to “Brantlee’s Journey,” a page that provides updates on Sanford’s son, Brantlee, and his battle with congenital hyperinsulinism, a rare condition in which the insulin cells of the pancreas produce too much insulin.

As of Sunday night there had been no motive established in the investigation, nor had there been any suggestion from authorities that Sanford’s political views or his son’s condition played a role in his thinking.

A 2007 article in the Clarkston News, a publication in the village of Clarkston, about 20 miles southeast of Grand Blanc Township, said Sanford graduated in 2003 from Goodrich High School, about 12 miles east of the shooting site.

Goodrich Area Schools officials did not immediately respond to a request to confirm Sanford’s attendance and graduation from the high school.

At the time, according to the article, Sanford was soon to be deployed to Fallujah, Iraq.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the culture and the people of Iraq,” Sanford is quoted as saying. “I’ll return with the real news of the situation.”

The article says a grandfather served in the Navy and an uncle served in the Marines, both in World War II. His father, Thomas Sanford, is quoted as saying: “Jake’s going voluntarily and plans on returning to his community when his service is over. We are very proud of him.”

A voicemail message left for a phone number listed for his parents was not returned. Attempts to reach his wife were unsuccessful.

CORRECTION (Sept. 29, 2025, 12:47 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated who said that the suspect used an accelerant. It was James Deir, special agent in charge of the ATF’s Detroit Field Division, not Grand Blanc Township Police Chief Bill Renye.