On Sunday morning in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, tragedy struck during worship at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel. An Iraq War veteran, Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, rammed his pickup truck into the church before opening fire on congregants and setting the building ablaze. At least four people were killed, and eight more were injured. Authorities said the blaze left the church a “total loss” as crews sifted through the debris for additional victims (CNN).
LIGHT A FREE PRAYER CANDLE FOR THE VICTIMS
A Targeted Act of Violence
The FBI described the assault as “an act of targeted violence” (The Telegraph). According to White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, FBI Director Kash Patel told her that “all they know right now is this was an individual who hated people of the Mormon faith” (CNN). Investigators are still searching Sanford’s home and family residences for evidence that might explain his motives.
Sanford, a former Marine sergeant deployed in Iraq between 2007 and 2008, had been described by neighbors as “a nice guy” who even helped clear snow from driveways, though some suggested “something must have happened, snapped somehow,” according to The Telegraph.
Horror During Worship
According to CNN, the congregation had just finished the Sacrament when the attack began. A witness named Paula recalled: “We heard a big bang, and the doors flew open” as Sanford’s truck crashed into the chapel. Police responded within seconds, engaging the gunman in a firefight. He was killed in the parking lot only eight minutes after the assault began.
The fire spread quickly through the red-brick chapel. “Some victims were near the fire and they were unable to get out of the church,” said Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renye. By evening, the once-peaceful meetinghouse had collapsed into ashes.
Political and Social Fallout
Images and accounts from The Telegraph show Sanford had, in the past, displayed Trump campaign signs and posted a picture of himself wearing a “Make Liberals Cry Again” shirt. His more recent political views remain unclear. After the attack, former President Donald Trump condemned the killings, declaring that the “epidemic of violence in our country must end, immediately.”
This attack follows a string of assaults on houses of worship. Just last month, a Catholic church and school in Minnesota were targeted, resulting in the deaths of two children (The Telegraph).
A Call for Catholic Solidarity
For Catholics, this tragedy is another reminder of the vulnerability of communities gathered in prayer. As St. Paul wrote, “If one member suffers, all suffer together” (1 Cor 12:26).
Though the LDS church differs doctrinally from Catholic teaching, these men, women, and children were brothers and sisters in their search for God, violently attacked during sacred worship. In the words of one nearby Mormon, the shooting felt “inevitable” in a culture that increasingly tolerates hatred (CNN).
The Catechism teaches that human life is sacred because “from its beginning it involves the creative action of God” (CCC 2258). The deliberate taking of life in an act of hatred—especially within a house of prayer—represents a direct assault not only on human dignity but on God Himself.
Prayer in the Face of Violence
Catholics are called to pray for the repose of the souls of the victims, healing for the wounded, and conversion for those tempted to hate. As Pope St. John Paul II reminded the Church, “violence destroys what it claims to defend: the dignity, the life, the freedom of human beings.”
Let us join in fasting and prayer, entrusting all who suffered in Grand Blanc Township to the mercy of Christ. May the Lord grant eternal rest to the departed, strength to the grieving, and peace to a world torn by violence.
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