Detroit Free Press
When Burton City Council candidate Kris Johns heard that someone shot churchgoers and burned down the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sept. 28 in nearby Grand Blanc, he said not once did he think it was the man he spoke to while canvassing less than a week prior who went on a tirade against the church and described Mormons as "the antichrist."
The man was outgoing, polite, and "extremely friendly," Johns said. And his animosity toward the church didn't seem violent, he said — “it was very much standard anti-LDS talking points that you would find on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook.”
But Johns started seeing images on television and social media of law enforcement swarming the home he had just been to last week on East Atherton in Burton and had a bad feeling. Then he saw the man's photo circulating online.
“There’s certain things you don’t forget," Johns said of suspected gunman Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, of Burton, a U.S. Marine veteran who served in Iraq. "This is not a forgettable guy.”
The FBI has taken over the investigation as "targeted violence" after authorities say Sanford plowed his pickup truck that donned two American flags into the back of the small-town church, shot at the hundreds of worshippers inside, and burned the establishment down using gasoline. Improvised explosive devices were also found on scene, federal authorities confirmed.
At least four people were killed — two by gunfire, two others engulfed in the flames — and eight others injured. There may be more victims as first responders finish clearing what's left of the church. As for Sanford, he was killed by two police officers eight minutes after he began shooting, said Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renye. He said during a news conference Monday, Sept. 29 that Sanford had two prior convictions of operating while intoxicated and burglary.
When Johns made the connection, he contacted authorities and said he spoke to Michigan State Police and the FBI. Jordan Hall, spokesperson for the FBI said they routinely receive information from the public but said the FBI does not confirm specifically who they speak to. State police didn't immediately respond to a Detroit Free Press request.
The FBI said Monday that they're still working to determine a motive. Law enforcement has already interviewed over 100 people, said Reuben Coleman, special agent in charge of the FBI in Detroit.
While others have been quick to shoo Johns off their properties, while he was making his rounds on Sept. 22 canvassing for a seat on city council, Sanford was different, he said.
Sanford shook his hand, thanked Johns for stopping by. They talked about their children — Johns' daughter has special needs, and he said Sanford told him his child has a serious health condition. Sanford’s son was the first baby to undergo an experimental therapy for a rare condition called hyperinulinism, according to a 2016 article posted by a Texas hospital.
Sanford asked Johns what he thought about guns, and the city councilmember-hopeful responded that he supports the Second Amendment.
Then they got into Sanford's life story, Johns said of their conversation that lasted no more than 20 minutes.
He said Sanford spoke quickly — "it was one thing after another" — as he shared about his time in Iraq and his struggles with drug addiction when he returned home. Johns said Sanford told him he moved to Utah at one point to plow snow and had a relationship with a woman there whose family was Mormon.
Sanford was married. Property records show he took out a mortgage with his wife in 2021 at the house on East Atherton in Burton. He bought the house in 2016.
Johns said Sanford asked him whether he believed in God. He responded, "yes." Johns told the Free Press he's Christian and a member of a local non-denominational church.
“From there, the conversation takes a very sharp turn," Johns said.
He said Sanford began asking him open-ended questions about Mormonism, first asking how Johns felt about the religion. And the more questions Sanford asked on the topic, the more pointed they became, Johns said. He said Sanford asked him about the Mormon bible, the role Jesus plays in the religion, the history of the LDS church and Joseph Smith Jr., the founder of Mormonism and the LDS movement.
Mormons is a term used for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In Michigan, about 1% of American adults identify as Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, according to the Pew Research's 2023-24 U.S. Religious Landscape Study. Nationally, that's 2% of adults. The majority, 69%, live in the West, predominantly in Utah, near where the church's global headquarters was established in Salt Lake City in the mid-19th century.
“I just didn't know what the next question was going to be," Johns said.
But Johns said everything Sanford asked him about Mormonism led to Sanford declaring the religion as "the antichrist."
Their conversation never delved into politics or current events, Johns said — "there was no mention of anything right or left, blue or red.”
But Johns did say he spotted a Trump 2024 sign on the suspect's fence.
While Sanford voted in the November elections in 2024, 2022, 2020, 2018 and 2016, he doesn’t have a track record of voting in an August primary, presidential primary or municipal election, according to a database maintained by Practical Political Data said Democratic consultant Mark Grebner who works for the firm and has collected and analyzed voter and election records in the state for decades.
Sanford’s voting track record indicates that he was not a committed partisan with a strong desire to weigh in on intraparty fights and that he didn’t seem to pay close attention to local politics, according to Grebner.
Without Sanford’s participation in a presidential primary, his affiliation with a political party cannot be gleaned from election records. In Michigan, voters are not asked to list a party affiliation when they register to vote, but when they vote in a presidential primary, they must request a specific party’s ballot to participate in that party’s primary election.
Sanford also appears to have signed two petitions as a Michigan voter favored by conservatives. He appears to have signed a petition to curtail emergency powers, according to the database, that came amid a COVID-19 backlash to public health orders and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s handling of the pandemic.
Sanford also appears to have signed a petition supported by Right to Life of Michigan to restrict abortion access in Michigan, the database indicates.
Andrea Sahouri covers criminal justice for the Detroit Free Press. Contact her atasahouri@freepress.com.
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