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FOX Report with Jon Scott 9/28/25 FULL END SHOW | ᗷᖇEᗩKIᑎG ᑎEᗯS Tᖇᑌᗰᑭ September 28, 2025
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00:00A Fox News alert and a horrifying Sunday morning in a normally quiet Michigan suburb.
00:06A man opening fire inside a Mormon church in Grand Blanc, Michigan, about 50 miles north of Detroit.
00:13Police say the gunman killed one person and left multiple victims in critical condition.
00:17The shooter is also down. Officials confirm there is no ongoing threat.
00:22But the chaos is far from over.
00:24The church was engulfed in flames, which investigators say the suspect set.
00:28But local, state and federal teams are now on the ground working to uncover the motive behind this shocking act of violence inside a house of worship.
00:36Good afternoon. I'm John Scott, and this is the Fox Report.
00:48Let's check in with Brian Yenis. He has the latest live from our New York City newsroom. Brian.
00:54John, good afternoon. A horrific story indeed.
00:57Police say at about 1025 this morning, a suspected gunman at the age of 40 years old,
01:03a man drove his vehicle through the front doors of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
01:09while there were hundreds of people worshiping inside.
01:13Now, he then got out of his car and then opened fire using some kind of rifle striking 10 victims.
01:20One of those victims was killed. Nine others are in critical or stable condition.
01:26The shooter was shot and killed by two local law enforcement officers who arrived on scene and immediately engaged with the shooter.
01:34Police believe the gunman deliberately started a fire at the church.
01:38Take a look at that.
01:39And how exactly this fire was started is still under investigation,
01:44but the fire consumed the entire building.
01:46Tragically, police believe there were multiple victims who died in this fire, trapped.
01:52The shooter's name was not released, but the FBI and the ATF are now on scene.
01:59We're going to do search warrants on the suspect's residence.
02:03We're going to find out if there was a motive.
02:06We're going to go through cell phone records, things like that.
02:09We have the FBI, you know, they're devoting 100 agents to this area because, as you can imagine,
02:20there's a lot of witnesses that were within the church,
02:23and that is a lot of witness information statements that we have to obtain.
02:29So as this investigation continues, President Trump, though, he was briefed on the shooting,
02:34writing on True Social this afternoon, quote,
02:36The suspect is dead, but there is still a lot to learn.
02:39This appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America.
02:45The Trump administration will keep the public posted, as we always do.
02:48In the meantime, pray for the victims and their families.
02:51This epidemic of violence in our country must end immediately.
02:55A spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a statement,
03:00reading in part, quote,
03:02We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of prayers and concern from so many people around the world.
03:08In moments of sorrow and uncertainty, we find strength and comfort through our faith in Jesus Christ.
03:14Places of worship are meant to be sanctuaries of peacemaking, prayer, and connection.
03:19We pray for peace and healing for all involved.
03:22And, John, as you stated, a motive has not been officially given by investigators.
03:28We will have a press briefing at 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, so we'll hopefully get more information.
03:35We know that they are executing those search warrants at the home.
03:39But speaking to the issue of motive, we do know that a month ago there was that tragic shooting at the Annunciation Church in Minneapolis,
03:45also a school where a gunman opened fire on children in that house of worship, killing an 8- and 10-year-old and injuring many others.
03:54And, of course, we also know that the president, the oldest president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Russell Nelson, died last night.
04:02Whether or not that has anything to do with this obviously is part of the investigation, John.
04:06Yeah, obviously these things tend to spawn imitators.
04:11When you mentioned the other shooting at the Catholic Church a month ago and then this, it often seems like they go in waves like this, Brian.
04:20Yeah, no doubt about it.
04:21I mean, the first thing I thought about was obviously the rifle.
04:25The police described the weapon used in this as a quote-unquote assault rifle.
04:31That usually means it's some sort of semi-automatic weapon, finding that weapon, but also finding the bullets.
04:37Was there a message on these bullets like we've seen in prior shootings?
04:42But, of course, this is a much more complicated crime scene given the fact that there was this fire started.
04:47Whether or not there was an incendiary device used or whether or not how this fire was started, we don't know.
04:53But that will play a complicated part in this and the tragic detail of the fact that there are still perhaps a number of victims, we know multiple people, who had died in this fire trapped because of the actions of this shooter, John.
05:08So the number is expected to go up.
05:10That's another sad aspect to this story.
05:13Brian Yennis.
05:14Brian, thank you.
05:15Of course.
05:15So for more on this deadly shooting, let's bring in Paul Morrow, Fox News contributor and a retired NYPD inspector.
05:24Back to the point I made not very artfully a moment ago, Paul, but it does seem like these church shootings and school shootings tend to go in waves.
05:34That somebody who's a little unstable sees somebody else pull the trigger and decides to do it themselves.
05:42Yeah, that's right, John.
05:45And that's why law enforcement is always very aware of the copyright phenomenon.
05:49For instance, if you're working kind of terrorism and there is an event targeting a specific group someplace, even overseas, very often you'll see law enforcement react locally.
06:00They put, let's say, marked patrol cars out in front of a synagogue or something like that just to make sure that anybody who puts this idea in their head as a result of what they see elsewhere and starts to feel like it's been normalized, law enforcement's aware of the fact that that is a phenomenon.
06:17And, you know, as you said, we had the church shooting about a month ago, but what we also had was the event in Utah involving Charlie Kirk and there was an LDS element to that as well.
06:30So there are a couple of vectors blowing through this thing that you might inevitably goes to.
06:35And we'll just have to see as as they investigate how this one plays out.
06:39We just heard the police chief say that they have served search warrants at the suspect's residence.
06:45Now, does that suggest to you that he's somebody local?
06:48I mean, in the in the New York, the upstate New York shooting a year or two ago, that suspect drove in 100 miles away and attacked people at a grocery store.
06:59Do you think this is a local resident?
07:04Yeah, it does suggest something local, John.
07:07During the press conference, the police officer leading the press conference mentioned that, in fact, the shooter was 40 years old and from a place called Burton.
07:16Burton appears to be, you know, I looked I looked into it a little bit, 10, 15 miles away from Grand Blanc where the incident occurred.
07:24So this does suggest that it's something local.
07:27And then that goes to the idea.
07:29Is it a localized beef?
07:30Is it something that was specific to this congregation?
07:33Had he been in the congregation?
07:35Was the place known to him?
07:37Or was it more generalized?
07:38But if what the officer leading the briefing said is accurate, it looks like this is a pretty localized incident.
07:46And, you know, they got right out on the search warrants.
07:48And as some other commentators have mentioned, they're going to have to go in and make sure that there's nothing booby-trapped.
07:54We see a fire here.
07:55So obviously this person wanted to cause as much damage as possible.
07:59So they're going to go in.
08:00They'll use SWAT, for lack of a better term, to clear the area before they go in and start investigating.
08:06And as we always say in these cases, a lot is going to come down to the digital footprint.
08:10You know, you're going to do all the stuff that we always hear about, which is interviews and things like that.
08:15But you're going to want the computer.
08:17You're going to want the phone.
08:18You're going to want the social media.
08:19You're going to want to try to get an idea of what drove this person because the perpetrator is reportedly dead.
08:26And so you're going to have to go off of that to figure out what was the motivation and if, in fact, there's anybody else involved and if there's any continuing threat.
08:34It's a sad fact of life these days that so many churches have had to either hire armed security or find, you know, members within their ranks who are trained in the use of handguns and weapons.
08:45And they stand outside, you know, the front door or maybe in the narthex, the lobby, and do security.
08:54And a case like this is just going to suggest that more and more churches are going to need to do that kind of thing, Paul.
09:01Yeah, it really does.
09:03And you see it, and I've mentioned this on the air before, a lot of the Jewish congregations were out ahead on this.
09:08I know of them here in the New York area, you know, people involved in that.
09:10But they sort of came around to the idea that inevitably they're just going to have to safeguard their houses of worship.
09:16And now you're seeing it going across the board because we have a number of Christian churches here that have been attacked.
09:22And, look, it's going to be a fact of life for a while.
09:24And as I said, there's a lot of copycats out there.
09:27There's an overlay here of not only the attack in Utah, but my mind goes to the event in Idaho some time back where a shooter started a fire and then started firing at the firemen that responded, the firefighters,
09:40and actually killed two.
09:41So there are echoes of at least three prior incidents blowing through this one.
09:47And you have to say to yourself, is it, again, something that the perpetrator here took lessons from and decided to mimic?
09:55And that's why, you know, law enforcement is always very aware of the stuff that's happened previously.
09:59And these are comparatively new things that now law enforcement on a local level has to be worried about somebody who's going to start a fire, let's say, and use it as cover for a mass shooting, never mind doing it at a church.
10:11All these things are relatively new, and law enforcement's going to have to be aware of them.
10:15Paul Morrow.
10:16Paul, we'll be talking with you more about this case and a few other things.
10:21Thank you, John.
10:21Now let's bring in Bernard Zapier, former ATF special agent in charge, to the point that Paul just made.
10:29It's, you know, it's fairly new, I guess, that somebody not only attacks a church but sets fire to it.
10:37How does law enforcement get their hands around this kind of evil?
10:42Well, they're going to be neutral until they can determine motive and intent, because they don't want to waste time, investigative, precious investigative time, getting, going down the wrong track.
10:53They need to let the evidence speak to them so they can have some context.
10:57I mean, we all want to have context as to what would cause somebody to do this.
11:02We have to face the fact of incarnate human evil on our planet for examples of today.
11:08But the motive could be something unexpected.
11:11So until the evidence speaks to that and they have a handle, which they'll have quickly, we have to wait for them to finish on that.
11:18Places of worship provide an extra vulnerability, because people are there oftentimes.
11:23We're detached emotionally, spiritually from us sitting there.
11:27And so, you know, they're extra vulnerable during a service.
11:32And, of course, this thing is unconscionable when you have a fire set.
11:36That fires rapidly accelerate.
11:39The consumables actually combust themselves.
11:42Fire service probably could not initiate suppression of this fire until they determined that the shooting was completely stopped.
11:49And so you have a lot of layers of complexity, both at the tactical level and the investigative level.
11:54And it's just, you know, our prayers go out to the people that have suffered so much from this.
11:58It's just awful.
11:58You know, the common theme in a lot of these mass shootings often is the age of the gunman.
12:06You know, I go back to Columbine.
12:07You had a couple of teenagers in the Michigan shooting a month ago.
12:12That person was in his, I think, early 20s.
12:16The suspect in the Charlie Kirk assassination, early 20s.
12:19It seems like that's usually the case.
12:22But in this particular assault, police say it was a 40-year-old man.
12:27Does that, do you take anything away from that, Bernard?
12:30We are facing something horrendous in society today.
12:33And that is the disenfranchisement of all of us from families, from a higher power, from some greater purpose.
12:41We're being separated even further by living sort of this alter life through social media.
12:47And so people aren't beholden to the things that would give them, say, a personal ethos or framework.
12:53And so they're lost.
12:55And then when they're lost, the ego takes over.
12:57And that's when the devil whispers.
12:59They start doing things in furtherance of themselves, including horrific acts of violence.
13:05And it's perpetuating in the U.S., unfortunately.
13:07But we really have to look at our emotional, behavioral health, and spiritual aspects of what's going on
13:13that's causing this disenfranchisement for people to go to a point where they can murder the innocent for absolutely no reason.
13:21I've always wondered about violent video games as well.
13:25I don't think you mentioned that in your list.
13:27But the Newtown school shooter was a big fan of those really bloody video games.
13:33And it just seems like some of these people get desensitized to actual violence when they're playing it on the screen.
13:42That's true.
13:43And we are being desensitized, desensitized, if you like, from so many things.
13:48And, you know, we litigate out of the workplace and out of school so many things that we used to hold true.
13:56And it's gone.
13:57And so we have to rely on what's being fed to us.
14:00And a lot of that comes from the external.
14:02And so people lack this framework to have something greater than themselves.
14:08And, like I said, a personal ethos or conduct or, you know, even rule of law doesn't hold somebody accountable really for this.
14:16It does in the after event, but not in the prevention or that somebody could even not be so sociopathic and so self-absorbed to do something like this for no purpose other than evil.
14:29I wish we had more answers.
14:31Maybe we'll get them as the investigation goes along.
14:34Bernard Zaper, thank you.
14:36Thanks, John.
14:37We'll be back with more Fox reporting.
14:40Breaking news out of the Big Apple.
14:42New York City Mayor Eric Adams is ending his reelection bid.
14:46Adams announcing the decision on social media.
14:49The sitting mayor was polling fourth, far behind the frontrunner, Zoran Mamdani, former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.
14:58Eric Sean is live with more on this surprise.
15:02Eric.
15:02Hi, John.
15:03Well, it is seen as the only way, basically, to try and stop Zoran Mamdani.
15:08Of course, Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist who has alarmed many in New York City, has been leading by about 20 points.
15:16But now some think because Mayor Adams has dropped out that that could basically coalesce the race and make it a two-man race, essentially.
15:25Adams had high hopes when he was first elected and took office.
15:30He's a former police officer and public official.
15:32But those hopes were dashed by corruption charges and other issues.
15:36He decided to quit the contest because of low poll numbers and his lack of campaign funds he has been placing fourth, as you said.
15:43Even though he cut crime, shootings in New York were at a record low.
15:47He dealt with the migrant crisis and other challenges.
15:50It turns out that his record was not enough to overcome his popularity, especially after the corruption case that was dropped by the Trump administration.
15:58Both the mayor and the president denied they had made a deal.
16:02Despite all we've achieved, I cannot continue my re-election campaign.
16:10The constant media speculation about my future and the campaign finance board's decision to withhold millions of dollars have undermined my ability to raise the funds needed for a serious campaign.
16:27Adams speaking with a photo of his mother next to him.
16:30This leaves basically Mamdani facing former Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo.
16:36He's running as a moderate against the far-left socialist.
16:39Mamdani reacted to Adams dropping out by saying this, quote,
16:43Donald Trump and his billionaire donors might be able to determine Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo's actions, but they will not dictate the results of this election.
16:51New York deserves better than trading in one disgraced, corrupt politician for another.
16:56Well, there's another candidate in this race, and that is Republican candidate Curtis Lewa, the well-known founder of the Guardian Angels, radio talk show host, and conservative activist who has made crime his number one issue.
17:09He's been placing third, and his campaign vows that Curtis will stay on, saying, quote,
17:14Curtis Lewa is the only candidate who can defeat Mamdani.
17:18We have the best solutions to help working people afford to stay in New York City and feel safe.
17:23There's a lot of criticism of Mamdani.
17:26He is an assemblyman, a state legislature in upstate Albany, New York, representing a Queens district.
17:32He has no managerial experience, and some critics have been saying an ideological mayor is not the type of chief executive New York City may need now.
17:43Harking back to what famed Mayor Phil Oleguardi once said, there is, quote, no Democratic or Republican way to pave a street.
17:52But we'll see how this all plays out in the polls, and if it does help Andrew Cuomo's bid to try and defeat Mamdani, who has been leading so far by about 20 points, John.
18:00Or Curtis Lewa's as well.
18:02Eric Sean.
18:03Yeah.
18:03All right, Eric.
18:07For more on this, let's bring in Fox News contributor Byron York.
18:12Byron, the mayor is blaming his departure from the race on the fact that the candidate's board wouldn't give him any public money for the race.
18:24Does that make sense to you, or is there something else at work here?
18:30Well, I think it rings partially true.
18:32It could be maybe the straw that broke the camel's back because the board said that the mayor had offered misleading information in his application for funds he wasn't going to get any.
18:45The bigger fact is he's running fourth in a four-man race, okay?
18:51Our latest Fox News poll had Mamdani at 47.
18:55It had Cuomo at 29.
18:58It had Sliwa at 11.
19:00And it had the mayor, Mayor Adams, at seven, okay?
19:02Seven points behind Mamdani's 49.
19:07So that's the big reason is that he was just too far back.
19:13But if you take his seven points, even if you give it to Andrew Cuomo, you give every single percentage point to Andrew Cuomo, that still puts Mamdani well ahead of the other two candidates.
19:26You are absolutely right.
19:30Take Cuomo's 29 percent.
19:32Give him every single one of Adams' votes.
19:35And that's not going to happen in the real world because some of those votes would go to other candidates.
19:39But even if he got them all, that would put him at 36.
19:41Still 11 points in the Fox poll behind Mamdani.
19:46Still a pretty good lead for Mamdani, even if the mayor gets out.
19:50And, you know, some have suggested that Curtis Sliwa would need to drop out of the race for Andrew Cuomo to have any chance of beating Mamdani.
20:00Sliwa says that's not going to happen.
20:02Of course, you know, the mayor said earlier this month that he wasn't going to drop out either.
20:09Well, Sliwa has one good case going for him, which is he's the nominee of the Republican Party in New York.
20:16There are Republicans in New York, and they want to vote for a Republican.
20:20And Sliwa is going to get a significant number of votes.
20:23I don't think it would change the outcome.
20:25But I would expect Sliwa to stay in the race rather than essentially try to give his support to a former Democratic governor who left in disgrace, that is, being Cuomo.
20:38Yeah.
20:39Some Republicans have argued that, you know, letting Mamdani take the biggest office in the biggest city in the country would actually benefit the Republican Party because they think he'll make a mess of the place.
20:53How do you assess that?
20:54Well, you know, I think cooler heads would say, you know, should we really sit by and watch a disaster descend on New York because we think it might benefit.
21:06It might get so bad that people will turn to us later.
21:10I mean, that's kind of a cynical way to look at it.
21:13I mean, if you look at the recent Fox poll, the number one issue for New Yorkers, 25 percent said crime was the number one issue.
21:22The second one being affordability.
21:24But, you know, we just had recent reports that Mamdani, who in 2020, wanted to cut the New York police force by well over half.
21:34And he said that the New York police were racist, queer, and a major anti-queer and a major threat to public safety.
21:43And then Mamdani tried to explain it away by saying, well, you know, I was really just kind of upset about George Floyd back then.
21:50And I don't really believe that.
21:52And then we've seen reports he was saying that years later.
21:56So it's an enormous gamble for New Yorkers to do.
22:00But it appears if all the polls are correct and they all say pretty much the same thing, Mamdani has an imposing and probably unsurpassable lead in this race.
22:09It is going to be one to watch.
22:12We'll see what happens.
22:13Byron York, appreciate your time today.
22:15Thanks, Byron.
22:16Thank you, John.
22:18Well, the Fox Report returns right after this break.
22:22Trump's first president urges his boss.
22:33Sorry, one more time.
22:38Trump's first president urges his old boss against raising taxes on wealthy Americans.
22:45President Donald Trump, in a phone call this week, urged House Speaker Johnson to raise taxes on the highest income earners.
22:54Fox News has confirmed.
22:57Former Vice President Mike Pence has a message for his old boss.
23:03Pence is urging President Donald Trump, under whom he served as vice president in Trump's first administration,
23:10not to raise the tax rate on wealthy Americans.
23:14Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the signature domestic achievement of his first White House term,
23:24is scheduled to expire this year if it's not extended by Congress.
23:28Now, the Trump White House and some congressional Republicans for weeks have moved letting the tax reductions on the wealthy sunset
23:37as a way to pay for the rest of the tax cuts, as well as Trump's other pricey second-term priorities.
23:44And now, the president, during a Wednesday phone call, pushed House Speaker Mike Johnson to raise taxes on the highest income earners
23:53and closed the carried interest loophole in the reconciliation process.
23:58Fox News Digital has confirmed.
24:01The development was first reported Thursday by Punchbowl News.
24:05Now, listen to this.
24:07A source familiar with Trump's thinking said Trump is considering allowing the rate on individuals making 2.5 million or more
24:16to increase by 2.6% to from 37, 39.6%.
24:23That's a lot of dosh, that is.
24:25That's a lot of dosh.
24:28We start from Trump is considering.
24:35We just start from.
24:38Yes, but.
24:41A source, now get this right, familiar with Trump's thinking, said Trump is considering allowing the rate on individuals making 2.5 million or more
24:50to increase by 2.6%, from 37% to 39.6%, and now that's a fortune that is.
24:58But Pence, a fiscal conservative and budget orc, during his long political career in the House of Representatives,
25:05as Indiana Governor and as Vice President, strongly cautioned against upping the rates on the highest earners.
25:31Any suggestion that I've heard among some around the administration that we raise the top margin rate,
25:40the so-called millionaire's tax, would be an enormous tax increase on small business owners across America,
25:48Pence said.
25:49It needs to be opposed.
25:51And the former vice president, in an interview with Fox News Digital this week, argued that the majority of people
25:59that file taxes of a million dollars are simply individuals that own businesses,
26:04and they file their taxes as an individual, but then blow that money back into their company.
26:10If you raise that top margin, it would be an enormous tax increase on small businesses in America.
26:18Let's make all the Trump-Pence tax cuts permanent.
26:22That's a way to really lay a foundation to grow the economy in days ahead, Pence urged.
26:28Pence, who was interviewed by Boston after receiving the John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage Awards,
26:36gave President Trump all the credit in the world for a historic victory last November
26:42and for sparing the country one more liberal Democrat administration.
26:47He also praised Trump not only for his victory, but for securing our southern border,
26:52for restoring morale and recruitment in our military, for taking the fight to the Hothis.
26:58But he argued that I truly do believe that some of the other steps the president is taking away from
27:04that a conservative agenda should be a concern that would work against him in his legacy
27:10and ultimately the success of our party or our country,
27:13and so we're going to continue to be a voice against them.
27:17I really do believe that for prosperity, for the success of our whole country,
27:23we need to stick to those time-honoured principles of strong American defence.
27:28American leadership on the world stage, less government taxes,
27:31traditional moral values, and the right to life,
27:34and I'm going to be a voice for that, Pence added.
27:40Okay, that was good.
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