What we know about Thomas Jacob Sanford, the suspect in the Michigan church shooting

The person accused in a deadly shooting and a shot on Sunday in a church of Jesus Christ of the Holy Days in the canton of Grand Blanc, Michigan, is a man in the 40-year-old region with a military background.

Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, is from Burton, a city of almost 30,000 inhabitants about 6 miles from the canton of Grand Blanc. Both are flint suburbs.

Police said the attacker struck the church with a vehicle, released and open fire with an assault rifle. Police chief of the canton of Grand Blanc, William Renye, said that he also used an accelerator to trigger a fire, which was later contained.

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At least four people were killed in the attack, two of whom were killed and eight were injured.

The police killed Sanford in a parking lot behind the church, police said.

The FBI special agent in charge of Michigan, Reuben Coleman, said on Sunday evening that the office was looking for a reason.

“The FBI is now investigating and investigating this as an act of targeted violence,” he said.

According to Marine Records, Sanford joined the Marine Corps in 2004, and held the titles of organizational automobile mechanic and vehicle recovery operator.

In 2007, he started a deployment of almost seven months under operation Iraki Freedom and left the body a few months later, according to the files.

Sanford reached the rank of sergeant and had his last assignment to the Lejeune camp in North Carolina before leaving the Marines in June 2008, according to the archives.

He received the medal of good conduct from the Marine Corps, the maritime service deployment ribbon, the campaign medal in Iraq, the world war on terrorism and the National Defense Service medal, according to the files.

A 2007 article in The Clarkston News, a publication in the village of Clarkston, about 20 miles southeast of the canton of Grand Blanc, said that Sanford graduated in 2003 by Goodrich High School, about 12 miles east of the shooting site.

The school officials of the Goodrich region did not immediately respond to a request to confirm the attendance and obtaining the Lycée Sanford diploma.

At the time, according to the article, Sanford was soon to be deployed in Faujah, Iraq.

“I can’t wait to see the culture and the inhabitants of Iraq,” said Sanford. “I will come back with the real news of the situation.”

The article indicates that a grandfather served in the navy and an uncle served in the Marines, both during the Second World War. His father, Thomas Sanford, would have said: “Jake goes voluntarily and plans to return to his community when his service is finished. We are very proud of him. ”

Thomas Jacob Sanford seemed to have a young child, according to a review of a Facebook page belonging to a woman who would be his wife.

A voice message left for a phone number listed for his parents was not returned. Attempts to reach his wife failed.