00:00Flames spread quickly through this rural Michigan church, a fire so intense it prevented first responders from getting to everyone who needed help inside.
00:11I need manpower up here, ASAP. I have people trapped in the building. Repeat, people trapped in the building. We got children inside too.
00:20Hundreds of people were attending Sunday service when police say a pickup truck rammed into the front doors of the church.
00:27We heard a large, just a loud bang. At first figured somebody accidentally had done something, so we started rushing out to go help.
00:36And then as soon as I saw the American flags on the truck and that it was on purpose, and somebody yelled that it was on purpose.
00:43The suspect exited the truck, according to police, and started shooting worshippers with an assault rifle.
00:51And at some point after, started a fire that ripped through the building.
00:55The suspect used an accelerant of some sort, we believe gasoline, and lit the church on fire.
01:02At this time, that the FBI is now leading the investigation and is investigating this as an act of targeted violence.
01:09Police arrived within a minute of the first 911 calls, shooting and killing the suspect within eight minutes.
01:16That suspect is a 40-year-old male from the city of Burton, who we identified as Thomas Jacob Sanford.
01:24Thomas Sanford served four years in the U.S. Marines and was deployed to Iraq.
01:30Officers cordoned off the street near his home, while the bomb squad cleared the scene near the church.
01:35This kind of violence doesn't happen in our community.
01:39On social media, President Donald Trump wrote,
01:42This appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians.
01:45This epidemic of violence in our country must end immediately.
01:49The familiar pain of gun violence in America starts a new cycle of shock and grieving in yet another community.
01:57It's insane to me.
01:59I can't actually believe that this would happen in my city.
02:03Police are praising the actions of worshippers in the first moments of this horrific attack,
02:10saying there were children in the church.
02:12And as the gunshots began, the adults shielded the kids and rushed them to safety.
02:17And Katie, police aren't saying anything really about a possible motive.
02:21Other than saying this was a targeted act of violence, we still don't know much else.
02:26But this is just the latest in a string of deadly targeted acts of violence,
02:31including at places of worship in this incredibly volatile moment in America.
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