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Death toll from attack at Michigan church stays at 4 after police sweep charred ruins

Death toll from attack at Michigan church stays at 4 after police sweep charred ruins


Death toll from attack at Michigan church stays at 4 after police sweep charred ruins

GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Search crews did not find any additional bodies inside a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel where a former Marine opened fire and set the building ablaze, killing four people, authorities said Monday.

Authorities had feared they would find more victims in the charred wreckage but now believe everyone is accounted for after Sunday's attack on the church in Michigan where services were taking place, said Grand Blanc Township Chief of Police William Renye.

Investigators were focusing on what motivated the former Marine to ram his pickup truck into the church in Grand Blanc Township, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of Detroit. The suspect was killed while exchanging gunfire with two officers, the chief said.

Eight people — ages 6 to 78 — were injured, including five with gunshot wounds, the chief said. The others suffered smoke inhalation.

“This was an evil act of violence,” Renye said.

The FBI considered the attack — the second on an American church in little over a month — an “act of targeted violence,” said Ruben Coleman, a special agent in charge for the bureau.

Investigators declined to discuss any possible motives during a news conference Monday.

Authorities identified the shooter as Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, of the neighboring town of Burton. Investigators deployed a robot while searching Sanford’s residence Sunday but did not say what they found or provide any additional details about him, including whether he had any connection to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said investigators were looking into how much planning went into the attack and whether any clues about the motive were left behind.

“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,” she said Monday during an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends.”