Trump condemns ‘targeted’ attack after Mormon church mass shooting

London/Grand Blanc, Michigan: A former US Marine allegedly rammed a pick-up truck through the front doors of a packed Mormon church in Michigan, opened fire and set the building ablaze in a deadly mass shooting that US President Donald Trump labelled “another targeted attack” on Christians.

At least four people were killed and at least eight others were wounded, while the church was engulfed in flames and billowing smoke. The suspect, identified as 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford, was killed in a shootout with police outside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, about 80 kilometres north of Detroit.

Two of the victims died of gunshot wounds, police said, and two others were found as authorities searched the charred remains of the church. A number of people remained unaccounted for on Monday afternoon (AEST).

The FBI sent 100 agents to the area, Grand Blanc Township police chief William Renye said, while US Attorney-General Pam Bondi described the attack as chilling, and the New York Police Department said it was sending officers to religious institutions across its city as a precaution.

Renye did not specify a motive at a news conference on Sunday evening (Monday AEST) but said investigators were searching the suspect’s home in nearby Burton as well as his phone records. US military records show Sanford was a US Marine from 2004 to 2008 and an Iraq war veteran.

The US president took to Truth Social to say that while the suspect was dead, “there is still a lot to learn”.

“This appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America. The Trump Administration will keep the Public posted, as we always do. In the meantime, PRAY for the victims, and their families. THIS EPIDEMIC OF VIOLENCE IN OUR COUNTRY MUST END, IMMEDIATELY!” he wrote.

The president’s comments come a week after he used a memorial for prominent evangelical Christian and conservative activist Charlie Kirk – who was shot while speaking at a Utah university on September 10 – to describe him as a “martyr for American freedom”.

In the same speech, he placed the blame for Kirk’s murder on the “radical left”. The incident has sent shockwaves around the US and has been seen by commentators as a galvanising moment for the Christian right.

Renye told a press conference the suspect allegedly burst in on “hundreds of people” while a morning service was under way just before 10.30am Sunday local time (12.30am Monday AEST).

“He drove his vehicle through the front doors of the church. He then exited his vehicle firing several rounds at individuals within the church,” Renye said.

“During all this incident as well, there was a fire that occurred, and we believe that that was deliberately set by the suspect.”

Two law enforcement officers rushed to the scene within 30 seconds of receiving emergency calls and engaged the suspect in an exchange of gunfire, shooting him dead in the parking lot about eight minutes after the incident began, Renye said.

An official with the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said investigators believe the shooter used an accelerant – probably gasoline – to start the fire, and that some explosives were recovered. The FBI said it was leading the investigation of what it considered “an act of targeted violence”.

One witness told WXYZ television she heard “a big bang and the doors blew”.

“I lost friends in there and some of my little primary children that I teach on Sundays were hurt. It’s very devastating for me,” said the woman, who gave her name as Paula.

The Mormons, formally known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, follow the teachings of Jesus but also the prophecies of Joseph Smith, a 19th century American.

Bondi said in a post on X: “Such violence at a place of worship is heartbreaking and chilling. Please join me in praying for the victims of this terrible tragedy.”

The Michigan rampage marked the 324th mass shooting in the US this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which describes a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot or killed, not including the shooter.

It was also the third US mass shooting in less than 24 hours, including one at a waterfront bar in North Carolina that left three people dead and five wounded, and another at a casino in Eagle Pass, Texas, that killed at least two people and injured several others.

With AP, Reuters

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