By Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Allison Gordon and Zoe Sottile, CNN
The blaze in Flint, Michigan. Photo: Julie J / CNN
Thomas Jacob Sanford, the suspect in Sunday morning's mass shooting at a Michigan church, was an Iraq War veteran and outdoorsman, according to military records and social media posts.
Police say Sanford, 40, of Burton, Michigan, rammed his pickup truck into the front of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc before shooting at congregants with an assault rifle and, at some point, setting the building on fire. At least four people were killed and eight injured. Sanford died during an exchange of gunfire with police, authorities said.
Authorities have provided no motive for the attack.
A Marine Corps spokesperson told CNN Sanford served as a sergeant and received several medals for his service, which lasted from 2004 to 2008. He was deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom for several months starting in the summer of 2007.
Sanford graduated from Goodrich High School in 2004 and was recognised among other veteran alumni, according to an archived page from the school's website. A local news profile of Sanford from 2007 said he was deployed with the US Marine Corp to Japan before preparing to head for service in Iraq.
Social media accounts linked to Sanford's family show that he was married with at least one child, a young son. According to a GoFundMe page from 2015, the family was in need of donations to help pay for the medical care of Sanford's son who was born with a rare genetic disorder.
The newborn baby was diagnosed with a condition called Congenital Hyperinsulinism, which required a lengthy hospital stay and several surgeries to remove portions of the pancreas, according to a family Facebook page documenting the difficult journey.
The child's medical condition took a financial toll on the family, with one local news article reporting that Sanford took leave from his work as a truck driver for Coca Cola to be with his son.
"Don't ever take having healthy kids for granted" Sanford is quoted as saying in another article. "We are proud of our child. I spent four years in the Marine Corps and was in Iraq and this is still the most unique thing to deal with."
Other posts on Sanford's mother's Facebook page show that Sanford was a hunter, posing with deer and other game.
- CNN
