On Sunday morning at approximately 10:30 AM, a violent perpetrator committed an act of targeted violence against worshippers at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan. These are the facts, and facts don’t care about your feelings.
Here’s what we know. The attacker, identified as Thomas Jacob Sanford, age 40, deliberately rammed his vehicle through the front doors of the church while approximately 100 innocent Americans were attending religious services. Let’s say this for what it is – a calculated attack on religious freedom and American values.
The perpetrator, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2004 to 2008, including an Iraq deployment, didn’t just crash into the building. He proceeded to open fire with an assault rifle and – pay attention here – used an accelerant to deliberately set fire to the house of worship. This wasn’t some random act of violence; this was premeditated destruction.
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Let me break down the devastating toll: four innocent Americans dead, eight hospitalized, with one in critical condition. This is precisely what happens when we fail to address security vulnerabilities in our religious institutions.
Survivor Paul Kirby, who was present with his family during the attack, provided firsthand testimony that destroys any attempt to downplay the severity of this incident. “That was the scariest moment of my life, not knowing if my family was OK,” Kirby stated. When congregants heard what he described as “a loud boom coming from the back wall of the chapel,” several men, including Kirby, made the logical decision to investigate.
Here’s where it gets interesting, folks. Upon exiting the building, Kirby encountered the gunman and immediately faced direct fire. He felt shrapnel strike his left leg and witnessed a bullet penetrate a glass door merely one foot away from his position. “It was just so unexpected,” Kirby reported, adding that while fleeing, he was “expecting to get a bullet in the back of my legs or in my back or something.”
Let’s analyze this logically. We have a former Marine, who served overseas, deliberately targeting a religious institution during peak worship hours. The FBI is investigating this as “an act of targeted violence” – and they’re absolutely right to do so.
The perpetrator was ultimately neutralized in an exchange of gunfire with responding law enforcement officers. But here’s the critical question we need to ask: How many more houses of worship need to be attacked before we implement serious security measures to protect religious Americans exercising their First Amendment rights?
The left wants to talk about gun control. But let’s say, hypothetically, this attacker had been stopped by armed security before breaching the building’s entrance. How many lives might have been saved? These are the conversations we need to have, based on logic and reason, not emotional rhetoric.
As authorities continue their investigation, with some individuals still unaccounted for, we must confront the reality that our religious institutions remain vulnerable targets. This isn’t about politics – it’s about protecting American lives and religious liberty. And that’s just basic logic.