Man behind Grand Blanc church shooting made fake threats to distract cops

The person behind it a deadly shooting at a Mormon church in Michigan last September invoked false threats towards different homes of worship to distract police.

Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, tried to “divert regulation enforcement sources” by making false reviews of assaults on two different church buildings and a Jewish temple on September 28, earlier than his assault on the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, about 60 miles northwest of Detroit.

In accordance with the police, GPS information established this Sanford was about a mile from his real target when he reported bomb threats on the different areas.

“The caller was a male who made bomb threats to a number of native church buildings and particularly described Mormon church buildings as vital,” reads an incident report from Grand Blanc Township Police.

“Within the background audio of the 911 name, the potential sound of a car exhaust may be heard whereas the person is talking, as if the person was driving a car whereas making the 911 bomb menace.”

The bogus reviews had been all made minutes earlier than Sanford crashed his pickup truck into the church round 10:25 a.m., then started capturing congregants in the midst of a service and set the constructing on hearth. Two had been killed within the gunfire and one other two died within the hearth. Sanford was shot and killed by responding police.

One other eight folks had been injured within the assault.

One survivor described the shooter as “strolling like a monkey” whereas firing an AR-style rifle whereas “sporting a masks and wearing camouflage clothes.”

Sanford, a former Marine, was motivated by “anti-religious beliefs towards the Mormon spiritual neighborhood,” the FBI mentioned.

Individuals who knew Sanford mentioned he became decidedly anti-Mormon after residing in Utah and relationship a Mormon girl earlier than the connection ended. He additionally advised buddies that he turned hooked on methamphetamines after leaving the navy.