The gunman who killed at least four worshippers, wounded eight and was shot to death by police Sunday at a Mormon church in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, had a sign emblazoned with the last name of Donald Trump outside his house, public records show.
The president responded to the church shooting on Sunday by saying “there is still a lot to learn” about the deceased suspect, identified as 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford. “This appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Trump’s comments were notably calm and measured compared with his remarks following the killing of the rightwing activist Charlie Kirk in Utah 18 days earlier, when the president rushed to blame the “radical left” for the murder and was echoed by his allies. A suspect is in custody in connection with that shooting and faces charges that carry the death penalty.
Images on Google Maps taken in June show that Sanford had a blue sign with Trump’s last name attached to a shed on the side of his house in Burton, Michigan, about a 15-minute drive from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints authorities say he targeted Sunday morning.
The placard, first reported by the Daily Beast, was propped up above a red stop sign. The image of the placard was too unclear to tell definitively whether it also displayed the last name of Mike Pence or JD Vance – Trump’s running mates during his three presidential campaigns since 2016.
Meanwhile, a family photo posted on Facebook shows Sanford posing alongside his wife and 10-year-old son wearing a Re-elect Trump 2020 T-shirt. The shirt from when the first of Trump’s two presidencies ended in defeat to Joe Biden carries the logo “Make Liberals Cry Again”.
Investigations into the motive of the Mormon church shooter are continuing. State police have stressed that any speculation about why the attack was carried out is “exactly what it is – a speculation”.
The FBI which is conducting its own inquiry has called the attack “an act of targeted violence” but has given no details on how it reached that conclusion.
On the conservative cable show Fox and Friends, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “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.”
Leavitt said investigators were also looking into how much planning went into the attack attributed to Sanford.
Officials say Sanford rammed a silver pick up truck bearing two American flags through the front door of the church, then used a rifle to fire at worshippers before setting the building ablaze.
He was killed by police in the parking lot of the church about eight minutes after the attack started at 10.25am.
Apart from the Trump-supporting artefacts, relatively little is yet known about Sanford’s political leanings. Michigan holds open primary elections in which voters’ political party preferences are unlisted. So voter records pertaining to Sanford show no party affiliation.
No party affiliation is recorded on his voter registration as is typical in Michigan, a state that holds open primary elections in which voters’ party preferences are unlisted.
Yet Democratic consultant Mark Grebner told the Bridge Michigan news outlet that Sanford had signed two political petitions. Grebner, according to the outlet, said one was for the 2021 “Unlock Michigan” effort to repeal the pandemic emergency powers of the state’s Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer. And Grebner reportedly said the other was for a 2020 push by the group Right to Life Michigan to restrict abortion in the state.
Local property tax assessor records confirm the address of Sanford’s house, which he bought for $96,211 in 2016. Images in the tax assessor records match the home on Google Maps with the Trump sign.
Sanford, who was known as “Jake”, joined the US Marines in 2004 after finishing his education at a local high school. He worked in the military as an automotive mechanic and was deployed to Iraq for seven months in 2007-2008 during the US’s war there, according to military records.
The church Sanford is said to have attacked was razed to the ground after the attacker is believed to have ignited the building by dousing it in petrol.
Grand Blanc Township is a small community of about 8,000 people outside Flint. Its Mormon church is one of the largest in the area with about 150 congregants.
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