4 killed, many injured in US church shooting

No fewer than four people were killed and several others wounded after a shooter targeted a Mormon church in Michigan, United States, on Sunday, September 28, 2025.

Police in the northern US state said the shooter first rammed the church with his vehicle before opening fire with an assault rifle, and then set the building ablaze.

Speaking at a press conference, Grand Blanc Police Chief William Renye disclosed that the attacker was killed by police in the parking lot eight minutes after the first emergency call came in.

Renye said that in addition to two deceased victims announced earlier in the day, two more bodies had been recovered among debris at the burned-down church, with search efforts ongoing.

Earlier, he said eight people had also been wounded in the attack, one of whom was in critical condition.

AFP journalists in the adjacent town of Burton witnessed a large police presence outside the home of the suspected shooter, whom Renye identified as Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40.

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Renye and other officials did not provide any further details on Sanford. United States media reports said he had grown up in the area and was a military veteran.

Images of the aftermath at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, a suburb of the city of Flint, showed most of the building reduced to ashes.

Photos also showed the truck apparently driven by the attacker into the side of the building, with two US flags on poles in the vehicle’s rear.

FBI Special Agent Reuben Coleman told the press conference that the FBI was now leading the investigation, and was looking at the attack “as an act of targeted violence.”

Renye earlier said hundreds were inside when the attack commenced, and that more victims may be found among the debris.

United States President Donald Trump called the shooting “horrendous” and said it was “yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America.”

The Star