Michigan church shooting suspect went on anti-LDS tirade, political candidate said [View all]

Source: Detroit Free Press

Updated Sept. 29, 2025, 3:42 p.m. ET


When Burton City Council candidate Kris Johns heard that someone shot churchgoers and burned down the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sept. 28 in nearby Grand Blanc, he said not once did he think it was the man he spoke to while canvassing less than a week prior who went on a tirade against the church and described Mormons as "the antichrist."

The man was outgoing, polite, and "extremely friendly," Johns said. And his animosity toward the church didn't seem violent, he said — “it was very much standard anti-LDS talking points that you would find on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook.”

But Johns started seeing images on television and social media of law enforcement swarming the home he had just been to last week on East Atherton in Burton and had a bad feeling. Then he saw the man's photo circulating online.

“There’s certain things you don’t forget," Johns said of suspected gunman Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, of Burton, a U.S. Marine veteran who served in Iraq. "This is not a forgettable guy.”

Read more: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2025/09/29/thomas-jacob-sanford-michigan-shooting-suspect-anti-lds-tirade/86415139007/

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The RW loons need to understand that there is Christian on Christian hate. Some hate Catholics, some hate LDS, some hate the "prosperity Gospel" Baptists, as well as Jehovah Witnesses, etc. There are evangelicals who hate Lutherans and Episcopalians for not only embracing LGBTQ+ people but because they have LGBTQ+ pastors and even have women in the priesthood.

Meanwhile atheists consider "religion" in general, a "cult".