REPORT: Michigan Shooter Made Chilling ‘Confession’ A Week Before Church Attack

One week before he carried out a killing spree at a Michigan Mormon church, Thomas Jacob Sanford reportedly made a chilling confession that would portend his reason for doing so.

The 40-year-old resident of Burton was killed by police after ramming his SUV through the doors of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc and opening fire on a Sunday service. Witnesses described a chaotic scene as they barricaded themselves in bathrooms and tried to save the wounded before fleeing for their lives as the building was engulfed in flames.

Police shot and killed Sanford, a former Marine, but not before he killed four and injured another eight.

Kris Johns, a candidate for city council in the community of less than 8,000 residents, recalled a conversation he had with Sanford one week earlier, where he described Mormons and the Church of Latter Day Saints as “the anti-Christ.”

“He was extremely nice at first. He even talked about his child who had a serious medical concern,” Johns said in a recent interview with journalist Dave Bondy.

“But when the conversation turned to religion, I just wanted to get off the door and away from him.”

Sanford was living in Utah — the birthplace of the modern-day Christian offshoot — and reportedly in a relationship with a woman involved in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Johns claimed.

Johns, 44, told the Detroit Free-Press that Sanford also confessed to his struggle with drug addiction following his military service.

“It was one thing after another,” as Sanford began to ask Johns about his belief in God, the candidate recalled.

Johns, a Christian and congregant of the Solid Rock Community Church in Burton, replied “yes,” causing Sanford to veer into a “very sharp turn” about the history of the Mormon Bible and the role of Jesus in the religion.

“I just didn’t know what the next question was going to be,” he said, the Daily Mail reported.

“There’s certain things you don’t forget. This is not a forgettable guy. It was very much standard anti-LDS talking points that you would find on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook.”

Johns said Sanford admitted to having several tattoos removed so that he could participate in religious ceremonies with his partner, including imagery of barbed wire and a dreamcatcher.

Despite the intense conversation, Johns said Sanford never made him feel unsafe.

“It wasn’t anything I thought I needed to call police about. You hear all kinds of views these days. Nothing about it suggested he was going to hurt anyone,” he observed.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Monday that the FBI is treating the act of domestic terrorism as a targeted attack on Mormons.