Mormons Raise $185K for Michigan Shooter’s Family
Debris is seen on the vehicle used by the man who allegedly rammed his vehicle into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Mich. on Sunday Morning, before opening fire and setting the building ablaze, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Members of the Mormon community are uniting after a deadly church shooting in Michigan, raising more than $185,000 to support the family of the gunman at the center of the tragedy.
The fundraiser, launched on GiveSendGo by David Butler—who described himself as simply an “ordinary” member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—has drawn donations nationwide from fellow Mormons in states including Missouri, Hawaii, and Utah, according to Fox News. Butler emphasized that he has no personal ties to the family of 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford, who died after the attack on a Grand Blanc Township congregation.
Butler explained that Sanford’s family is enduring severe financial and emotional struggles in the aftermath. One of Sanford’s children requires specialized medical care, and earlier fundraising attempts had produced little help. “Every donation will go to provide for the Sanford family’s daily needs, ongoing medical treatment, and help create stability in a time of heartbreak and upheaval,” Butler wrote.
The campaign comes as new details emerge about Sanford’s troubled past. Two childhood friends told the Associated Press that Sanford had long expressed hostility toward the Mormon church, an attitude that intensified after a breakup with a Mormon girlfriend in Utah following his service in the Marines in 2008. Friends remembered him criticizing the church during social gatherings, though they said they never imagined it would escalate to violence.
A city council candidate who visited Sanford’s Burton home less than a week before the shooting said Sanford spoke for 15 minutes about his distrust of Mormons, describing them as the “antichrist.”
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