CLICK TO HEAR COMMENTS FROM U.P. STATE SENATOR ED MCBROOM (R-NORWAY)
Governor Gretchen Whitmer has ordered that all public flags across the state of Michigan fly at half staff after a shooting and fire at a Grand Blanc church that killed four and injured eight others on Sunday.
Flags on public buildings and grounds as well as in the State Capitol Complex are to be lowered immediately and stay lowered through Friday, October 3.
“My heart is breaking for this community,” Whitmer said Sunday night. “Violence anywhere, especially in a place of worship, is unacceptable. I am grateful to the first responders who took action quickly. To honor those we have lost, I am ordering flags to be lowered across Michigan. Our state is in mourning alongside the victims, their families, and the entire community in Grand Blanc Township.”
Upper Peninsula State Senator Ed McBroom (R-Norway) is well-known for being a man of faith. He gave RRN News his reaction Sunday night.
“Heartbreaking for all of those families and their loved ones,” he said. “I had to give the prayer at my church this morning and we didn’t know about this event when we were meeting. We were just praising God for having a country where we can meet peaceably without fear of persecution and harassment as many believers around the world do. And yet, while I was praying that, here in our own state, we had somebody who terrorized a church, and people who were gathered to worship. It’s unthinkable, and just tragic in so many ways.”
McBroom says this kind of violence is becoming too common, and he believes that part of the problem is the breakdown of the traditional family unit and its traditional values in our country.
Grand Blanc is a suburb of Flint, about an hour north of Detroit.
Police Chief William Reyne confirmed Sunday night that the suspect, identified as 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford, drove his vehicle through the front doors of the church and opened fire inside the building.
After the shooting began, Sanford reportedly started a fire inside the church. Police believe there may be additional victims yet to be accounted for. Sanford was fatally shot by responding officers in the church parking lot. Of the eight injured, seven are reported to be in stable condition, while one remains in critical condition.
The FBI is now leading the investigation and is treating the incident as a potential act of targeted violence.
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