Bodycam video shows police shoot suspect after deadly Michigan church attack that killed 4
Written by ABC Audio. All rights reserved. on October 3, 2025
(GRAND BLANC, Mich.) — Body camera footage released Friday shows the chaotic moment when local police confronted the man accused of driving his truck into a Michigan chapel before firing on hundreds of worshipers and burning the church to the ground.
The video, released at a Friday press conference, shows two officers running toward the suspect in the parking lot of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, telling him to drop his weapon, yelling “shoot him” and “get back” before firing at least eight shots.
The suspect’s body can be seen on the ground at the end of the short video.
The press conference comes almost a week after Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, allegedly killed four people and injured eight others during his rampage before being shot dead by the two local officials who responded to the scene.
While officials did not take questions at the press conference, they did reveal a new timeline for the police response.
The first call to Genesee County 911 came from someone who got shot in the stomach at 10:25 a.m., with that patched to officers 16 seconds later, police said during the press conference. A Michigan Conservation officer arrived just short of 2 minutes later and then the Grambling Township officer arrived one minute later, which is when the body camera footage picked up.
The names of the officers, who have been placed on desk duty, are not being released and the investigation is being conducted by the Michigan State Police.
“We will never forget this incident, but I promise you we will not let this define Grand Blanc. We will strive, and we will be better together,” Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renye said. “Our condolences go out to everyone in this nation who has been affected by this particular incident.”
“We’re not going to allow this incident to define our community, but our response it is what we we’re going to be defined by,” Grand Blanc Township Supervisor Scott Bennett, said at the press conference Friday.
Investigators said that Sanford is from Burton, Michigan, which is about 8 miles north of Grand Blanc, and he is Marine veteran who served in the Iraq War.
People who knew Sanford told ABC News that he held contempt for the religion from his experiences dating a Mormon woman in Utah a few years prior to the shooting and said he had even considered converting to the religion himself.
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