GENESEE COUNTY, Mich. – A friend of the Grand Blanc Township church attack suspect recalled a “bizarre” encounter they had with him just days before the attack.
Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, of Burton, is suspected of driving his pickup truck into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township. Police said Sanford got out, fired shots from an assault rifle, and then lit the church on fire.
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Four people were killed and eight others were injured.
Local 4 spoke with one of Sanford’s friends on Sunday after the attack. They said they were shocked and devastated.
Kara Pattison said she and her daughter talked with Sanford just 48 hours before the attack.
Pattison said she and her daughter were walking home from a homecoming parade and were waiting for a truck to pass at an intersection.
When Pattison noticed the truck wasn’t moving, she and her daughter proceeded to cross the road. However, the truck began moving fast, causing her and her daughter to jump back.
When the truck approached Pattison and her daughter, the window rolled down, showing Sanford sitting in the driver’s seat.
“Oh, got you guys,” Pattison recalled Sanford saying to them while laughing.
She said Sanford then asked the two if they liked his truck.
Pattison said there were all sorts of accessories on the truck, including a set of antlers strapped to the front and flags on the back.
“‘You like my truck?’ ‘You like the flags?’ ‘Check out the flags,’” Pattison recalled him asking them.
“He had never pretended to run us over before, so no, that wasn’t normal behavior,” Pattison said.
She said she felt “shock, devastation, sadness for the people that he hurt, sadness for him, sadness for his wife and his kid.”
“It’s hard to feel sad for someone who did something terrible, and I feel sad for someone who did something terrible,” she said.
Click here to see all of our coverage of the Grand Blanc church attack.