Michigan church shooter reportedly held anti-Mormon views
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Emergency services respond to a shooting and fire Sunday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan. Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
The man who police say killed four people and injured another eight in Sunday's attack on a Latter-day Saints church in Michigan held virulently anti-Mormon views, multiple friends and acquaintances say.
Zoom in: The man was particularly affected by a breakup with a woman who was a devout Latter-day Saint and whom he'd dated while living briefly in Utah more than a decade ago, friends told CNN and the New York Times.
- Authorities have not identified a motive, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Monday that, based on her conversations with FBI director Kash Patel, "This was an individual who hated people of the Mormon faith."
What they're saying: "He got this whole fascination with Mormons, and they are the Antichrist, and they are going to take over the world," a lifelong friend, Francis Tersigni, told the Times.
- "All he could talk about was Mormons," Tersigni said of the accused shooter, Thomas Jacob Sanford, who died at the scene.
The big picture: The attack has left many Latter-day Saints frightened and grieving, particularly while mourning Russell M. Nelson, the church's top leader, who died Saturday at age 101 in his Salt Lake City home.
- Investigators have not reported a connection between Nelson's death and Sunday's attack.
That fear taps into a deeper memory: The faith was violently persecuted in the 19th century, when believers fled from state to state until reaching Utah — a heritage still commemorated frequently in worship and teachings.
Catch up quick: Sanford lived in Utah in 2010 and 2011, the Detroit News reported.
- Although it's unclear whether Sanford ever attended the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, his former landlady in Jeremy Ranch told the Times he had fallen in love with an "extremely religious" woman and felt pressured to convert.
Zoom out: Friends said he suffered from drug addiction and returned from Utah somewhat changed.
The latest: His behavior became erratic in recent weeks, local sources told CNN.
- A city council candidate in nearby Burton, Michigan, met Sanford while campaigning a week before the attack.
- Sanford abruptly shifted the conversation toward Mormonism, the candidate, Kris Johns, told the Detroit Free Press, mentioning the religion's scriptures, history and the role of Jesus.
- "It kept going to, 'They're trying to put people above Jesus,' and 'They're not Christians,'" Johns told the Detroit News. "He did make the statement that 'Mormons are the Antichrist.'"
What we're watching: Whether investigators discover what precipitated the attack this week, so many years after Sanford's closest contacts with members of the faith.