On the morning of September 28, 2025, a mass shooting[1] occurred at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) meeting house in Grand Blanc, Michigan, United States. According to police, a shooter reportedly rammed their vehicle into the church, then opened fire on a crowd of worshippers inside.[2] A large fire then broke out in the church building following the shooting, believed to have been set by the shooter.[3] A total of 10 people were reportedly struck by the gunfire, with two deceased, one injured in critical condition, and the remaining injured in stable condition. The shooter was killed on the scene.[4]
Yes, that’s clearly not just a dropped match. Speculation is that some of the congregation tried to shelter behind a locked door, and the perpetrator came prepared for that with some kind of explosive (which set the building on fire).
Obviously he’s trying to make this a “Violent Leftists” thing. The facts don’t appear to support him. But then this is the guy shamelessly claiming that Portland, Oregon is a “war zone.”
As much as I am sure Trump wants this to be political, I don’t think it is. Seems more like revenge to me. The suspect must have had a connection to the church and wanted to go after someone specific there. Custody battle? Something involving child abuse? Plain old jealousy? In any case, Trump did manage to point out the exceedingly obvious, which is that this did not happen by accident. But that isn’t necessarily going to make this into what he wants it to be (and I can say that because I’m not Jimmy Kimmel).
Also, from the provided link, I don’t get the sense that this fellow was a flaming liberal (although I would not be surprised if Kash Patel’s FBI informs us in about two weeks that the shooter had a trans girlfriend who talked him into it).
I just couldn’t see how, say, a stray bullet into something electrical could do this. Cause a fire, sure, but for it to get that big before the fire department got there. Presumably the FD was allowed to start working the second the place was deemed safe by the police. IOW, I’m thinking that if this was a smaller ‘normal’ fire, it would’ve been put out long before it got to that point.
My first thought was accelerant in the attic. That drone shot makes it look like the entire ceiling is on fire and I’m thinking it was burning for a while before he started shooting. It’ll be interesting to see if any survivors mention smelling smoke or hearing fire alarms going off.
Having said all that, I’m sure at least some of these things are known (when/if people smelled smoke, when the FD was alerted etc) but I don’t think the public has a timeline yet. (Edit: or nearby surveillance/ring cameras seeing smoke coming out of the roof)
Sure, but I’m also wondering if maybe he worked there and had (unsupervised) access to the building to set all this up. A maintenance worker, for example.
I wouldn’t be shocked if it was revenge for the murder of Charlie Kirk. You know, by a Mormon.
But then again, I wouldn’t be shocked by anything at this point (although the social media photos—two US flags from a pickup truck, among others—certainly don’t scream “leftist” to me).
Certainly some prior familiarity (at least) with the building seems likely. If he knew there was a locked area that people would likely flee to, for instance (necessitating an explosive to get past that door), that would argue for prior knowledge.
Thomas Jacob Sanford – a 40-year-old from Burton, MI – was shot dead by police after they say he rammed his car through the front doors of the church and opened fire on hundreds of worshippers in the building.
My understanding from years ago was that Mormon’s considered themselves as Christians, but Christians said that they weren’t. I’m not sure what has changed, but I did a search for “are mormons christians” and it seems like that is still the case.
I’m wondering what Christians would think about this being called an attack on Christianity.
Mormons are Christians when it’s convenient for white Christian nationalists to identify them as such, for the purpose of perpetuating the Christian fantasy of victimhood and martyrdom even as they consolidate their power and bring us ever-closer to a theocracy.
I think it’s a little more complicated than that. Most Christians, I think, would say that Latter-Day Saints are fringe Christians, but still Christians. Of course, some say that they’re not, but then, some say that nobody but their own tiny micro-sect are True Christians, and some, as @ASL_v2.0 says, flip-flop on their definitions whenever politically convenient.
Growing up in the Southern Baptist church I was taught that Mormonism is a cult. I don’t know what they’re teaching nowadays; it might not be convenient politically to do that now.
