Police repeatedly yelled at the gunman who fatally attacked members of a Latter-day Saint congregation in Michigan to “Drop it! Drop it now! Drop the gun!” before shooting and killing him in the church parking lot.
Grand Blanc Township Police released a 47-second video from an officer’s body-worn camera during a press conference Friday.
“What you’re about to see here is two officers running to the sounds of gunfire to save lives, very courageous actions. This is what law enforcement is trained to do and this is how law enforcement should respond to these incidents,” said Grand Blanc Police Chief William Renye.
This past Sunday, police say Thomas Jacob Sanford rammed his pickup truck into the front of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meetinghouse during services and started shooting at the congregation. He also set fire to the building. Two people were fatally shot and eight were wounded. Two others died as a result of the fire.
The FBI is investigating the attack as a “targeted act of violence.” A White House spokeswoman said Sanford “hated” members of the church.
The Deseret News has chosen not to show the video.
What the video shows
Police crime scene tape flutters in the wind while hanging from a mailbox down the street from a shooting and fire at a meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-days Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, on Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025. | Brice Tucker, for the Deseret Ne
In the video, a barrage of gunfire can be heard as one officer running through the parking lot shouts “I got your back back here, man,” while another can be heard yelling “Get on the ground! Get on the ground! Do it now!” The first officer then says, “Shoot him.”
Two gunshots ring out from who Renye said investigators believe is a Michigan Department of Natural Resources conservation officer on the scene as the Grand Blanc police officer makes his way between two parked cars.
A man in a suit, who Renye identified as a member of the congregation, appears running toward the gunman before stopping to take aim with a handgun. Renye said the man did not fire his gun.
The two officers repeatedly yell at the gunman to drop the gun before one fires multiple shots at him. A dog randomly runs toward the officers while the gunman lay in the parking lot. “You good?” one of the officers asks the other.
Renye said the Grand Blanc officer, whom he declined to name, fired at least eight times.
“We responded quickly,” the chief said. ”It’s a harsh video to watch.”
Footage of the officer walking up to the gunman on the ground was not included in the clip, Renye said, because it’s not the time or place to review that video.
“We have to remember people are first and the assailant also has families that are suffering as victims as well,” he said.
Both officers are on paid administrative leave while the Michigan State Police conducts an investigation of their actions, which Renye said is standard procedure in the state for officer-involved shootings.
New police response timeline
Renye also updated the police response time to the scene. He originally said police responded in 30 seconds and the gunman was dead within eight minutes. He said Friday after reviewing bodycam footage and call logs, from the time the call went to the officers, the incident “ended much shorter than eight minutes” — three minutes, 43 seconds.
He provided a new timeline:
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10:25:32 — Genesee County 911 receives the first call stating that the caller had been shot in the stomach.
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10:25:48 — Genesee County 911 puts out a call for service to the Grand Blanc police.
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10:27:46 — A Michigan Department of Natural Resources officer arrives on the scene.
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10:28:54 — A Grand Blanc Township officer arrives on the scene.
“We will never forget this incident, but I promise we will not let this define Grand Blanc,” Renye said. “We will strive and we will do better together.”
