{"id":1298711,"date":"2025-09-29T09:49:02","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T06:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/in-the-us-a-man-drove-a-car-into-a-church-opened-fire-and-set-the-building-on-fire-there-are-dead-and-injured\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T09:49:02","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T06:49:02","slug":"in-the-us-a-man-drove-a-car-into-a-church-opened-fire-and-set-the-building-on-fire-there-are-dead-and-injured","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/in-the-us-a-man-drove-a-car-into-a-church-opened-fire-and-set-the-building-on-fire-there-are-dead-and-injured\/","title":{"rendered":"In the US, a man drove a car into a church, opened fire, and set the building on fire: there are dead and injured"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most tragic attacks on a temple in recent years has occurred in the United States. In the city of Grand Blanc, Michigan, 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford, a resident of neighboring Burton, carried out an attack on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is reported by CNN<\/a> .<\/p>\n

According to Grand Blanc Police Chief William Rainier, during Sunday services, a car-ramming attacker rammed the entrance to the church and then opened fire with an assault rifle on worshippers. He then deliberately doused the building with fire retardant and set it on fire. Sanford was killed by police in a shootout, but his attack killed at least four people and injured eight others. Children were among the victims.<\/p>\n

Police said two of the victims died from gunshot wounds, and two more bodies were found after the fire was extinguished. At least one person is in critical condition, while the other injured are in stable condition. Law enforcement officials do not rule out that the death toll could rise, as the chapel was destroyed by fire and is considered a “total loss.”<\/p>\n

The police chief of Grand Blanc stressed that there were hundreds of worshippers in the church during the service, including children. “I want to note the heroism not only of the law enforcement officers, but also of the parishioners themselves. They covered the children with their bodies and helped evacuate them to a safe place,” said Rainier.<\/p>\n

The FBI announced that it had taken the lead in the investigation, describing the incident as an “act of targeted violence.” According to Reuben Coleman, acting special agent in charge of Detroit, federal authorities are investigating possible violations of federal law, including terrorism or hate crimes. More than a hundred FBI agents are on the scene, and bomb squads are examining suspicious objects found inside the building.<\/p>\n

The investigation into the identity of the attacker is ongoing. As confirmed by the US Marine Corps, Sanford served in 2004-2008, participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom and was a sergeant. Information appeared in the media that he was married and raising a son with a rare genetic disease. His family several years ago raised money for the child’s treatment.<\/p>\n

The motive for the attack is still unknown. Sanford’s home is being searched, and law enforcement has obtained warrants to access his digital media.<\/p>\n

The tragedy in Michigan has caused widespread outrage. US President Donald Trump called it “another targeted attack on Christians in America” and promised strong measures to stop the epidemic of violence. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said that “violence in places of worship is completely unacceptable.”<\/p>\n

At the same time, in the town of Burton, where the attacker came from, a prayer procession was held near the church, where clergy and residents honored the memory of the victims. Hundreds of people gathered to pray together and support the families of the deceased.<\/p>\n

By the way, a bloody tragedy occurred in Minneapolis<\/a> – during prayers in a Catholic church, an armed man opened fire on students and worshipers. Two children, ages 8 and 10, were killed, and at least 17 others were injured.<\/p>\n

Recall that on June 10, a large-scale shooting occurred at a school in the city of Graz, Austria,<\/a> resulting in the death of at least ten people and the injury of 28 others. The number of victims may increase.<\/p>\n

Also follow \u201cPryamim\u201d<\/strong> on Facebook<\/a> , Twitter<\/a> , Telegram<\/a> , and Instagram.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most tragic attacks on a temple in recent years has occurred in the United States. In the city of Grand Blanc, Michigan, 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford, a resident of neighboring Burton, carried out an attack on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is reported by CNN . According to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":1298702,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76871,76872,76875,76870],"class_list":["post-1298711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2","category-news-feed","category-other-news","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1298711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1298711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1298711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1298702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1298711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1298711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}