The ramming and shooting that claimed three dead (plus the murdered) at the Latter Day Saints / Mormon temple in Grand Blanc Michigan last week seems on so many levels like most such atrocities:
According to law enforcement, a man rammed a pickup truck into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township before opening fire and, officials believe, setting the building ablaze. Victims range in age from 6 to 78. The suspect was fatally shot by police during the attack, which was the 13th mass shooting in Michigan this year.
In addition to the murders, the killer set a fire that completed destroyed the parish:
Our parish is a total loss. Fire started in daily Mass. The entire roof was engulfed by the time I left. I prayed a rosary on the lawn and we watched it burn. Thankful for firefighters still working hard. I feel despair for our community but grateful no one was hurt as far as I… pic.twitter.com/t38raIVxPn
— Lu for Alaska (@luinalaska) July 6, 2023
Oh, there was one huge wrinkle - Mormon church members are raising funds for the family of...the killer:
David Butler, a member of the denomination living in Utah, said he was moved to launch a fundraiser for Sanford's widow and children.
As of Thursday, it had brought in more than $250,000 (£186,000), with many donors identifying themselves as Latter-day Saints, commonly called Mormons.
"The family will face financial hardship and psychological trauma as a result of this week's horrifying events," Mr Butler wrote in the fundraiser page on the website GiveSendGo.
A thoroughly unexpected gesture? Absolutely:
New: At first, Katie Hamilton thought the fundraiser was a sick joke.
— Dave Boucher (@Dave_Boucher1) October 2, 2025
Because after her brother attacked an LDS church, how could Mormons + others want to give her family money?
She can't grasp what her brother did - or the grace from the LDS community https://t.co/8fI9d32Ujc
Although having grown up on the edge of Mormon country, I'd say the gesture is suprising, but far from shocking. It's an act of grace I'd have a hard time emulating, which may itself be the big personal moral learning experiencd from the whole miserable event.
In more prosaic and tragic lessons? Do you think the house of worship was, perhaps, a "gun free zone"?
You get one guess. You'll only need one.
Houses of worship in Michigan are on the list of state-mandated soft targets:
- Schools or school property, but may carry while in a vehicle on school property while dropping off or picking up if a parent or legal guardian
- Public or private day care center, public or private child caring agency, or public or private child placing agency
- Sports arena or stadium.
- A tavern where the primary source of income is the sale of alcoholic liquor by the glass consumed on the premises.
- Any property or facility owned or operated by a church, synagogue, mosque, temple, or other place of worship, unless the presiding official or officials allow concealed weapons.
- An entertainment facility that the individual knows or should know has a seating capacity of 2,500 or more.
- A hospital.
- A dormitory or classroom of a community college, college, or university.
And it's not just the state. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in a policy development from 2019, prohibits law-abiding parishioners from having legal firearms in LDS houses of worship:
“Churches are dedicated for the worship of God and as havens from the cares and concerns of the world. With the exception of current law enforcement officers, the carrying of lethal weapons on church property, concealed or otherwise, is prohibited.”
Churches are free to set their own policies on guns in church. My former one certainly did.
It just strikes me as an odd development for a faith that is not only at the heart of one of this nation's reddest states, but one whose roots are soo deeply marinated in dealing with people trying to kill them.
