Man who rammed truck into church building, opened fire on worshippers, and set church ablaze is identified

A man who k!lled at least four people and wounded eight others on Sunday, September 28, at a Michigan Latter-day Saints church is a 40-year-old Iraq War veteran who served in the US Marines.

Iraq War veteran Thomas Sanford rammed his Chevy Silverado truck into the church building before opening fire on worshipers at a Sunday service of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, USA.

The vehicle had two large American flags behind the cab and a set of deer antlers attached to the bumper.

He also set the church ablaze, causing the entire structure to burn down. Authorities fear there may be more victims in the fire.

A Facebook post by Sanford’s mother says the gunman — who di£d at the scene in a shootout with cops — served in Iraq from 2004 to 2008.

He was k!lled minutes after the first 911 call came in.

A Department of Natural Resources officer and a local township cop responded to the scene in about 30 seconds, authorities said.

Authorities later confirmed that Sanford, from nearby Burton, Michigan, is the lone suspect.

The source of the blaze was not immediately known, but sources told The Post that authorities found improvised explosive devices on church property, which a bomb squad was investigating.
A bomb squad was also searching Sanford’s house.

Cops said there were hundreds of worshippers inside the church when the attack began, with aerial footage showing an enormous plume of choking black smoke rising up from the structure as it burned.

Social media accounts believed to be connected to Sanford show he’s a family man, with a wife and young son.

A dormant GoFundMe page from 2015 raised more than $3,000 for the couple’s now-10-year-old son who was born with congenital hyperinsulinism, or CHI, a rare, genetic condition where the pancreas releases too much insulin.

Pictures from the Sanfords’ Facebook page show the family smiling, posing in the beds of pickup trucks or in a field of tall sunflowers.

An unnamed witness told Fox 2 Detroit that the attack started at about just after the congregational hymn, when hundreds of people were inside the building for the 10 a.m. service

Churchgoers reportedly heard a loud bang as the attacker crashed his truck into the church.

“We at first thought someone had accidentally crashed into the church, so we went out to help him,” the man told the local TV station.

Paul Kirby, 38, who also ran outside to render assistance believing it to be an accident, told the New York Times he saw the man getting out of the truck from about 10-20 yards away before he realized what was happening.

“He started shooting at me,” Kirby said, saying a bullet whizzed through a nearby glass door, clipping his leg with a piece of shrapnel.

He then rushed inside the church to find his wife and two sons before they fled through the back of the church and loaded as many people into their car as they could before speeding away.

Grand Blanc resident Tony Deck told USA Today that he drove by the church after hearing sirens and saw “at least four yellow canvases over de@d bodies.”