On Sunday, September 28, 2025, a gunman drove a vehicle through the front doors of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, opened fire on worshippers, and set the building ablaze with gasoline. The chapel was destroyed, and investigators warned that more victims might be found in the rubble. By evening, authorities confirmed four dead, at least two from gunshot wounds, and eight wounded, including one in critical condition. Counting the attacker, five people were killed.
Police identified the suspect as Thomas Jacob “Jake” Sanford, 40, of nearby Burton. A Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq, Sanford was killed in an exchange of gunfire with officers. Investigators discovered suspected improvised devices at the church and searched his residence for additional evidence. That evening, police also responded to bomb threats at other churches, which were later cleared.
President Trump called the massacre “yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America.” His warning comes as violence against Christians is on the rise. A new Family Research Council report documents 1,384 hostile incidents against U.S. churches between 2018 and 2024, with numbers surging from 98 in 2021 to 198 in 2022, then spiking to 485 in 2023 and 415 in 2024. Although last year saw a slight decline, the total was still nearly equal to the findings from the group’s first five-year study.
The data, gathered from open-source reports of threats, vandalism, arson, and shootings, shows incidents jumped from 98 in 2021 to 198 in 2022, then spiked to 485 in 2023 and 415 in 2024. Although 2024 saw a slight dip, the total was still nearly equal to the entire tally from the group’s first five-year study.
Between January 2024 and September 2025, there has been a staggering number of shootings and violent attacks targeting Christians at schools and churches across the United States.