Michigan : The Michigan Church Shooting killed at least four people and injured eight others on Sunday after a shooter targeted a church and set the building ablaze in Grand Blanc, authorities said.
The incident struck early Sunday (local time) at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a small community northwest of Detroit.
Police recovered two additional bodies from the debris at the burned-down church Sunday evening, raising the death toll from one to two in the afternoon.
Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renye told a press conference that the shooter drove his car into the church during a large service and fired on the crowd with an assault rifle, reports Xinhua news agency.
The police chief said the gunman, identified as Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, a former US Marine, deliberately set fire to the church.
Police killed the veteran, who served in Iraq, after he exchanged gunfire at the church, authorities said.
Renye said investigators will search the shooter’s home and phone records to uncover his motive.
Earlier, local police stated that the shooting caused multiple casualties and engulfed the entire church in flames, urging people to avoid the area while emergency teams responded. Authorities transported the wounded, including children, to local hospitals.
US President Donald Trump posted that he had received a briefing on the “horrendous” church shooting.
He added that the shooting “appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America” and said the FBI had arrived on the scene. “This epidemic of violence in our country must end, immediately!”
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said she received updates on the Grand Blanc shooting.
“My heart is breaking for the Grand Blanc community,” Whitmer wrote on social media platform X. “Violence anywhere, especially in a place of worship, is unacceptable.”
–IANS
