A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Authorities in Michigan are continuing to investigate the attack Sunday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel in Grand Blanc, Michigan. Four people died and several were injured after a man rammed his truck into a church, shot worshippers and set the building on fire. That suspect was killed by police. Sarah Cwiek of Michigan Public has been following this. Sarah, what's the latest that you've heard from federal and state law enforcement on this?
SARAH CWIEK, BYLINE: So this investigation is still very much in the preliminary stages at this point. But the biggest takeaway we have currently is that the death toll remains at four victims, and everyone who was in the church during the attack is now accounted for. And that's actually very good news because there was a big fear that more people would be recovered from the rubble of the church, which was mostly destroyed by the fire that the suspect, Thomas Jacob Sanford, apparently set. The head of the Detroit office of the FBI said, as he had said early on, that they're considering this an act of, quote, "targeted violence." But he declined to say who or what they believe the exact target was.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. What has the governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, said?
CWIEK: Well, Whitmer has ordered that flags in the state here in Michigan be lowered to half-mast. She's praised and thanked law enforcement for the response, but she's also cautioned people to wait for more information before jumping to conclusions here.
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GRETCHEN WHITMER: Speculation is unhelpful, and it can be downright dangerous. So I just ask that people lower the temperature of rhetoric.
CWIEK: Whitmer also said she was proud to see interfaith leaders from across Michigan denouncing this attack.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, do we know more about the alleged attacker, either from authorities or from somewhere else?
CWIEK: All right, so authorities didn't really share much more information than we already knew pretty soon after the attack, which is that he was a 40-year-old Marine, an Iraq War veteran. They wouldn't speculate about a motive. They did share that he has a criminal history for burglary and drunk driving in Michigan but didn't give really any details about that.
But the Detroit Free Press has reported that a political candidate campaigning for local office encountered Sanford recently. And that candidate told the Free Press that Sanford made repeated negative comments about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, calling it among other things the Antichrist. And The New York Times also interviewed some of Sanford's friends, who said he developed a hatred for Mormons after a painful breakup with a woman from the church years ago. But when questioned about his relationship to the church, authorities have declined to comment so far.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. What do we know about the victims?
CWIEK: Well, authorities haven't released much information about them either. But we do know that the eight people who were injured ranged in ages from ages 6 to 78. One person remains in critical condition, but the others are either stable or have been treated and released. Dr. Michael Danic is medical chief of staff at Henry Ford Genesys Hospital. And he says that several of the medical residents who treated them also attend the LDS church and were present during the attack.
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MICHAEL DANIC: Having your friends and family come in injured and taking care of them is a really incredible experience. They were heroes.
CWIEK: So because of the arson, investigators say it will take longer to examine the crime scene. But they've already interviewed over a hundred witnesses and say they expect to share more information in the coming days.
MARTÍNEZ: All right, that's reporter Sarah Cwiek of Michigan Public. Sarah, thank you very much for the information.
CWIEK: Of course. You're welcome.
(SOUNDBITE OF ANNE MUULLER'S "AARHUS / REMINISCENCES") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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