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Molly Parks


NextImg:LDS church shooting suspect 'hated people of the Mormon faith'

Thomas Jacob Sanford, the suspected attacker who allegedly shot and killed at least four people inside a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints building in Michigan, is believed to have harbored anti-Mormon sentiments.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she spoke to FBI Director Kash Patel on Monday morning about the investigation, and he relayed the suspect’s sentiments to her.

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“From what I understand, based on my conversations with the FBI director, all they know right now is this was an individual who hated people of the Mormon faith, and they are trying to understand more about this,” Leavitt said on Fox & Friends.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE MICHIGAN MORMON CHURCH SHOOTING

Leavitt said the Trump administration is “fully committed” to prosecuting Sunday’s crime “to the fullest extent of the law.”

A local, Burton, Michigan, city council candidate said he encountered Sanford while canvassing the week before the attack. Kris Johns, the candidate, said Sanford at first seemed “extremely friendly,” but switched into an anti-Mormon tirade during their conversation.

Johns said Sanford called the Latter-day Saints religion “the antichrist,” according to the Detroit Free Press. The city council candidate identified the man he spoke with as the suspect because the canvassing address matched Sanford’s address, and the images circulated of Sanford matched the man he encountered.

“I just wanted to get off the door[step] and away from him,” Johns said in an interview with Dave Bondy.

Johns said Sanford told him he had previously lived in Utah and had been in a relationship with a woman in a Mormon family, according to the Detroit Free Press. Johns also told the outlet that his conversation with Sanford did not include political or current event topics.

In a Monday press conference, law enforcement officials did not speak to the suspect’s motives or address reports that the suspect had been in a relationship with a Mormon woman. Officials are calling the incident a “targeted act of violence,” as in targeted within the state of Michigan and the Grand Blanc community. Sanford, a veteran, had been arrested in the past for burglary and operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

“The FBI was immediately on scene, and will be leading the Federal Investigation, and providing full support to State and Local Officials. The suspect is dead, but there is still a lot to learn. This appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America. The Trump Administration will keep the Public posted, as we always do,” President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social Sunday.

Sanford had a Trump sign on his property and was seen in a photo shared on Facebook wearing a Trump shirt, according to multiple reports.

MICHIGAN CHURCH SHOOTER IDENTIFIED AS ONE VICTIM STILL IN CRITICAL CONDITION

“What we know at this point in time is that he was a member of this Michigan community [and] that he is a veteran of our United States armed forces — he served in the United States Marine Corps in Iraq. His family is cooperating with the FBI, and so they are currently trying to dig in and get to the bottom of why he committed this heinous act of violence. It’s unfathomable,” Leavitt said.

The FBI Detroit office did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s requests for comment.