US police announced that at least four people were killed and eight others were injured in a shooting at a Mormon church in Grand Blanc, Michigan.
The incident occurred at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), and the 40-year-old attacker, Thomas Jacob Sanford, rammed his pickup truck into the church’s entrance gates, fired an assault rifle at hundreds of worshippers, and then set the building on fire.
Sanford, who previously served in the US Army and was stationed in Iraq, was killed in a shootout with police in the parking lot behind the church, authorities said.
The US Marshals Service said officers arrived at the scene just 30 seconds after the 911 call and neutralized the attacker within eight minutes.
Two more bodies were recovered from the charred ruins of the building, and some victims may have died in the fire; a number of worshippers remain missing.
The incident is part of a recent wave of attacks on places of worship in the United States, and the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are investigating.
