How the mass shooting and a devastating fire unfolded at a Michigan church

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By Danya Gainor, Holly Yan, CNN

(CNN) — Far below the piercing spires atop every Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel rests a sign that beckons, “Visitors welcome” – a testament to the faith’s robust evangelizing efforts.

But on Sunday morning, a visitor took advantage of the church’s open arms – plowing his truck into an LDS chapel in Michigan, shooting worshippers with an assault weapon and setting the building on fire.

At least four people were killed at the church house in Grand Blanc Township. Eight others were wounded.

The assailant — a former Marine and Iraq War veteran — died in a shootout with police. Sunday’s attack, which is among 324 mass shootings this year so far in the US, is being investigated as an act of targeted violence by the FBI, and the agency said it has assumed leadership in the case.

The church house on McCandlish Road, a tranquil stretch about 60 miles northwest of Detroit, is also the latest place of worship to be devastated by unrelenting gun violence.

The chapel joins, among others, a Catholic church in Minneapolis, a synagogue in Pittsburgh and a Sikh temple in Wisconsin where people — both young and old — were killed.

They were gathering for different reasons — to celebrate the start of a new school year, to mourn the loss of a church leader or for a Bible study. Many were praying.

Sundays are “supposed to be a time of peace and a time of reflection and worship,” Timothy Jones, who belongs to an LDS congregation 15 minutes away from Grand Blanc, told the Associated Press.

But in the wake of violence at houses of worship, a shooting “feels inevitable,” he said, “and all the more tragic because of that.”

‘A big bang, and the doors flew open’

It had been what the denomination calls a “fast Sunday,” when members globally are encouraged once a month to forgo two meals and donate the food, or the money they would have spent on food, to the poor.

“This is a Sunday in which members of the church are being told to think of other people, to be charitable, to be kind, to reach out and give,” said Matthew Bowman, professor of history and religion at Claremont Graduate University.

Fasting is also common in the LDS church in times of mourning.

Grief was already visiting the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ahead of Sunday’s attack. Its leader — President Russell M. Nelson — had died just a day earlier. Hundreds, dressed in their Sunday best, and many likely fasting, congregated in Grand Blanc for the weekly 10 a.m. service.

But by late Sunday morning, when the worshippers had just finished the Sacrament, the attack began, a churchgoer named Paula told CNN affiliate WXYZ.

“We heard a big bang,” she said, “and the doors flew open.”

A four-door pickup with two American flags sitting straight up against the back window in the bed rammed into the front of the chapel.

The driver, 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford, fired several rounds from an assault weapon at the worshippers, police later said.

Brian, another churchgoer, was trying to help some elderly ladies into his car when the gunman opened fire on their vehicle, he told WXYZ.

“We were trying to gather as many people as we could,” said Brian, his button-down shirt stained with blood and right hand wrapped in gauze. “I saw the active shooter come out of the building, and at that point, I just started trying to drive away.”

Paula couldn’t see the shooter, she said, and didn’t know whether he had entered the chapel.

“I didn’t know if we had to get down because we couldn’t see anybody,” she said.

But gunfire wasn’t the only danger. The suspect had started a fire inside the building.

Churchgoers rushed to protect children, shielding them and moving them to safety, Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renye said Sunday.

Some of the primary children she taught on Sundays, Paula said, were hurt. Paula said she joined the Grand Blanc chapel — the same building attacked on Sunday — 38 years ago. That morning, she had picked up a friend for the service and chatted with others inside before the shots rang out.

“It’s devastating to know I lost friends,” she said, her voice breaking.

Medical personnel cared for injured friends

Police officers descended on the scene some 30 seconds after the first 911 call, Renye said. Two pursued the suspect and “engaged in gunfire.”

Eight minutes after police arrived, the gunman was killed in the parking lot.

But the fire in the red brick church house had swelled. The inferno moved rapidly, quickly engulfing the chapel – with an unknown number of people still inside.

Massive plumes of thick, black smoke filled the sky and swallowed up the tall, white spire.

“All of a sudden, I saw smoke coming out,” Cindy Walsh, who was at home near the chapel when she heard shots, told WXYZ. “And then people were coming out.”

Firefighters battled the blaze for hours as people behind the police cordon looked on in disbelief. Survivors gathered at the reunification center and hugged each other in tears.

As the sun went down, crews were still sifting through debris and “working tirelessly to find additional bodies,” Renye said.

Up to seven people may have been unaccounted for, a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told CNN late Sunday. Everyone has been accounted for as of Monday, police said.

Eight victims, ranging in age from 6 to 78 years old, were taken to Henry Ford Genesys Hospital. The attack, a hospital official said, was deeply personal for some of the medical staff.

Some were members of the LDS church and were working “on site,” said Dr. Michael Danic, medical chief of staff at the hospital.

“Not only were they victims, they were also first responders,” he said, adding that many were treating their friends and family.

Some striking nurses at the hospital left the picket line when they heard about the shooting and ran to the chapel to help first responders, Teamsters Local 332 President Dan Glass said.

“Human lives matter more than our labor dispute,” Glass said.

Chapel building a ‘total loss’

Search crews have cleared the charred debris, and authorities’ attention have turned toward the investigation.

Police are “trying to determine exactly when and where that fire ended up coming from and how it got started,” though they believe the shooter started the fire “deliberately,” Renye added.

Authorities continue to scour the rubble to gather evidence, including searching for clues on the cause of the fire that engulfed the complex, a law enforcement source briefed on the investigation told CNN.

Evidence technicians went to process the scene after the fire was extinguished, and investigators said they found “some suspected explosive devices.”

Sanford used an accelerant, like gasoline, police believe, to light the church house on fire, said James Deir, special agent in charge of the Detroit field division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Beyond the crime scene, authorities are digging into Sanford’s past, hoping to find a motive for an attack that sent the community reeling.

The FBI is investigating reports he “hated people of Mormon faith,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Monday.

A city council candidate in Michigan told CNN that a week before the attack, Sanford launched into inflammatory language about his hatred of the church when they met on the campaign trail.

Walsh, the woman who lives near the chapel, said she was shaken.

“I’ve seen a change in this world,” she said. “There’s so much hate in this world. I just don’t understand it.”

The picturesque chapel, once bathed in sunlight and surrounded by lush green trees, is now unrecognizable. The building is a “total loss,” Renye said.

Debris piles have replaced pews; the welcoming church has closed its doors; and the churchgoers’ mounting grief has swelled.

And the tall white spire, which once towered over Grand Blanc worshippers as it reached toward heaven, is gone.

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CNN’s Josh Campbell contributed to this report.