Michigan church shooter Thomas Sanford raged against Mormons to a candidate for city council in his hometown just days before burning a Latter-day Saints church to the ground and opening fire on congregants, calling the religion “the antichrist.”
Kris Johns, 44, who is running for a seat on the Burton City Council, told the Detroit Free Press he was canvassing on Sept. 22 when he encountered an “extremely friendly” Sanford as he was door-knocking constituents.

Facebook / Brenda Walters-Sanford
The two chatted for about 20 minutes, Sanford at one point opening up about his time serving in Iraq as a US Marine and struggling with drug addiction upon returning home.
Johns told the outlet the conversation took “a very sharp turn” as the subject of religious faith was brought up, Sanford saying he had a relationship with a woman whose family was Mormon when he lived in Utah.

AP
The council candidate — who has since been in contact with Michigan State Police and the FBI — said Sanford peppered him with questions about the tenets of the Mormon faith, the role Jesus plays in the religion, the history of the church, and its founder Joseph Smith.
“It was very much standard anti-LDS talking points that you would find on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook,” he told the outlet.
“I just didn’t know what the next question was going to be.”

Courtesy Kris Johns
Sanford then stated that he considered Mormonism “the antichrist.”
Johns said he recognized Sanford instantly when he started seeing his image on TV and social media posts.
“There’s certain things you don’t forget,” he said. “This is not a forgettable guy.”
Sanford, 40, crashed his Chevy Silverado truck into the front door of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in neighboring Grand Blanc on Sunday, before exiting the vehicle and shooting at worshippers with an assault rifle. Authorities said there were hundreds of congregants inside at the time.

He also set the church on fire, destroying the structure.
At least four people have been killed so far, and eight others injured. However, authorities said there could be more casualties who died inside the burning church.