By George Hunter
The Detroit News
GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP, Mich. — When the roof of the Grand Blanc Township Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints started to buckle Sunday morning after it was set on fire by a gunman, dispatchers ordered the firefighters who’d gone into the facility to look for survivors to exit.
“All units pull out; roof is collapsing,” a dispatcher ordered about an hour after firefighters from several departments had responded to the five-alarm fire, according to audio from the Genesee County 911 dispatch of the Sunday emergency that captured the chaos and courage on display.
“My crew is out,” a firefighter responded. “We heard voices just before the collapse. We couldn’t get to them. Can we go back and get them?”
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Within minutes, the crews received the thumbs-up to go back into the burning church. Several times, with portions of the roof collapsing, first responders continued forging into the church to search for victims.
Later that Sunday, law enforcement reported that they had found two bodies in the church’s rubble after two others were fatally shot.
The discoveries came after Thomas Jacob Sanford, a 40-year-old Burton man and former U.S. Marine, allegedly rammed his pickup truck into the side of the church building on 4285 McCandlish Road and shot 10 people before setting fire to the building, according to police.
Officers responded less than 30 seconds after getting the first 911 call about the incident at 10:25 a.m. Hundreds of people were inside the church when the shooting occurred during the service, police said. Officers fatally shot Sanford in the church parking lot at 10:33 a.m., police officials said.
Local, state and federal officials have said they have no motive for the attack, but a Burton City Council candidate, Kris Johns, said Sanford went on a tirade against Mormons during a Sept. 22 campaign visit that included the comment, ” Mormons are the Antichrist.”
The Grand Blanc Township Fire Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The first dispatch to fire personnel went out at 10:32 a.m. Sunday, a minute before the police killed Sanford.
“We have an active shooter at the church, and the (police department) is on scene, saying the building is also on fire,” the dispatcher said in audio obtained from Broadcastify.
A man at the church asked if a report he’d just read was correct. "(Police department) has the person down and in custody?”
“They have one in custody right now; they’re trying to confirm that there’s no more,” the dispatcher confirmed.
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As first responders began to arrive at the church, a man at the scene warned: “You’re going to set up right in that drive; just watch for the patients on the ground.”
Moments later, a man at the church announced in a quivering voice: “I’ve got fire through the roof now. I’ve got a lot of guys inside.”
The dispatcher ordered the first responders out of the church.
“If you can get me a crew of four to send in, I’ll see if we can do a search,” a man radioed to a colleague after permission was given to reenter the structure.
“I’ve got a crew making entry into the west side of the building,” a first responder announced.
Throughout the operation, people on the scene repeatedly begged for more help.
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“I need you to find these people,” a supervisor ordered. “If you have to tap into Oakland County and Lapeer, get me more manpower. ... I don’t have any more to spare.”
At 12:22 p.m. , the alert was broadcast: “I need everyone on the A side to pull back. Per the State Police, we have a possible bomb in the truck.”
A few minutes later, a dispatcher warned, “Be advised..., they pulled an IED from the truck.”
“There’s a beeping sound coming from the suspect’s truck,” a second dispatcher cautioned minutes later.
Michigan State Police’s bomb squad deployed a silver three-foot robot to the scene.
The U.S. Bureau of Firearms, Alcohol, Tobacco and Explosives said four explosive devices were found in the suspect’s truck.
The search through the charred rubble continued for hours. By 8 p.m., almost 10 hours after the shooting, police said all the victims had been accounted for.
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