Livenow From Fox
Livenow From Fox
@livenowfox·5.6M subscribers·32.5K videos

Michigan church shooting suspect identified as 40-year-old Marine veteran

Posted

September 28, 2025

Views

610,372

Likes

2,682

Comments

2,356

Engagement

0.83%

Search the Record

Indexed

Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.

Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.

Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line

YouTube Description

as posted by the channel

Three people were killed, including the shooter, and eight others remain hospitalized after a shooting Sunday morning at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, according to police.

During the shooting, the suspect is believed to have intentionally set a fire that engulfed the church, and police said more victims could still be discovered in the blaze.

Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renye said during Sunday press conferences that the suspect was Thomas Jacob Sanford, a 40-year-old man from Burton, which is a neighboring city of Grand Blanc where the shooting took place. Grand Blanc is about 60 miles north of Detroit.

Police sources earlier identified the shooter to FOX 2 and said he was a Marine veteran who spent time in Iraq. According to those sources, he had a wife and a son. More details about him are expected later.

Renye said the suspect was killed in a shootout in the parking lot with responding officers, and it’s believed the suspect acted alone with an assault rifle. Renye said the suspect first rammed his vehicle through the front doors of the church, got out and began shooting at the parishioners before "deliberately" starting a fire.

What we don't know:

Renye wasn’t sure yet if the suspect was previously known to law enforcement.

It’s also not known yet how the suspect started the fire, or where in the church the fire began.

Subscribe to LiveNOW from FOX!

Where to watch LiveNOW from FOX

Follow us @LiveNOWFOX on Twitter

Raw and unfiltered. Watch a non-stop stream of breaking news, live events and stories across the nation. Limited commentary. No opinion. Experience LiveNOW from FOX.

Guests & Subjects Covered

Jesus ChristLatter-day SaintsGrand BlancThomas Jacob SanfordDetroit PoliceIraq AccordingFOX WhereFOX Follow

Sentinel Indexing in Progress

Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.

All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.

Michigan church shooting suspect identified as 40-year-old Marine veteran · Livenow From Fox · Sentinel