President Trump blasted the deadly shooting at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints church in Michigan on Sunday as an attack on Christians — as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt indicated the gunman “hated people of the Mormon faith.”
“This appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in the wake of Sunday’s carnage in Grand Blanc Township that left at least four dead and wounded eight others.
“THIS EPIDEMIC OF VIOLENCE IN OUR COUNTRY MUST END, IMMEDIATELY!”
The FBI was still working to determine what motivated the maniac — identified as 40-year-old Iraq War vet Thomas Sanford – to ram his US-flag adorned pickup truck into the church and open fire as services were in full swing.
Sanford later set fire to the church as hundreds of people were still inside.
“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 told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” on Monday morning without elaborating any further.
“They are trying to understand more about this: How premeditated it was, how much planning went into it, whether he left a note.”
Investigators have been scouring Sanford’s home but authorities haven’t publicly disclosed any further details on him – including whether he was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
It comes as law enforcement returned to the scene early Monday to scour the charred house of worship for any additional victims.
“We do believe there were people up there that were near that fire, and they were unable to get out of the church. So we do believe that we will have additional victims once we’re able to search that,” Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renye said.
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