GRAND BLANC, Mich. (FOX 2) – One of the victims in the deadly mass shooting at a church in Grand Blanc has been identified as a former member of the U.S. Navy.
Local perspective:
Seventy-seven-year-old John Bond, a Navy Veteran who served in Vietnam, was one of four people who were killed when an armed man drove his pickup truck into the Grand Blanc Township Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and started shooting Sunday morning.
Bond’s family said he had six children and ten grandchildren.
Before he died, they say he wanted to call his wife.
FOX 2 spoke with his wife by phone Monday, and she recounted their last moments together and said he was all dressed up while mentioning something about his shoes needing to be shined and said, “I love you.”
His family has set up a GoFundMe to help with memorial services and to help his wife.
The backstory:
Witness Brian Taylor said churchgoers thought someone had accidentally hit the building when there was a loud bang and saw a crack in the chapel wall around 10:25 a.m. Sunday.
Taylor said churchgoers thought there had been an accident and went outside to help, but soon realized it wasn’t an accident. He described seeing a man he did not recognize driving a truck armed with a rifle before the shooting started.
Who is Thomas Sanford?:
Police identified the shooter as 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford.
Sanford lived in Burton, about 15 minutes from the church. Sources said he had a wife and a child.
Sanford was a Marine veteran with stints in Iraq.
According to police, Sanford had previously been arrested for burglary and operating while intoxicated.
The Source: Previous information from Grand Blanc Township police, the ATF, and the FBI was used in this report.
