New details emerge on church shooter in Michigan with Utah ties

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — After the shooting at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meetinghouse in Grand Blanc, Michigan that killed four people, we are beginning to understand more about who the suspected shooter was, as childhood friends said that he began dating a Latter-day saint woman.

Police say an enraged Thomas Sanford plowed his pickup truck into this church, began shooting, and set the building ablaze, ultimately killing four people and wounding eight more. What we’ve learned about Sanford tells the story of a man jilted by a lover, flirting with religion, while dealing with other challenges.

New details reveal that while Sanford was in Utah, he was dating a woman who was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he wanted to learn more about the faith.

Our partners at ABC News spoke to Sanford’s childhood friends, who say Sanford considered converting to the faith, but they said that his life grew complicated.

“I know three things,” his friend Francis Tersigni said. “He moved to Utah. He started dating this girl, and then investigated and learned about Mormons because she was a Mormon. I know that also, he got into meth really hardcore. It messed his life up, and it messed his head up. and it just happened to be at the time he was around Mormons.”

Then came a breakup, and friends said that Sanford moved back to Michigan in 2010 after spending a couple of years in Utah. When he came back, they said he struggled with meth, which affected his mind.

Another friend suggested things might have turned out differently if Sanford had never moved to Utah.

Sanford’s struggles stretch back even further. Investigators revealed he had a child with serious health issues years ago.

During his time in Utah, he was also arrested for drunk driving in Summit County.