White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed on Monday that the Mormon church shooter “hated” members of the faith.
Leavitt said on Fox & Friends that she had a conversation with FBI director Kash Patel about Thomas Jacob Sanford, who drove his pickup truck Sunday into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, opened fire on worshippers, and set the building ablaze.
“From what I understand, based on my conversations with the FBI director, all they know right now is this was an individual who hated people of the Mormon faith, and they are trying to understand more about this, how premeditated it was, how much planning went into it, whether he left a note,’ she told Fox News viewers.
“All of those questions have yet to be answered, but certainly will be answered by the FBI. I think the American people in your audience can be assured.”
Sanford, a 40-year-old former military veteran who lived a 15-minute drive from the church, was killed in a shootout with police minutes later.
Law enforcement officials said at least four people were killed and eight wounded in the attack, with the FBI assisting what it described as an act of “targeted violence,” while stopping short of declaring a motive.
Images from June show a Trump sign outside Sanford’s Burton home, though Michigan’s open primaries mean party registration isn’t recorded, and authorities have urged against jumping to conclusions.
And while Leavitt also stopped short of stating a motive for Sanford’s “unfathomable” Mormon massacre, the 28-year-old agreed with President Donald Trump’s Sunday Truth Social claim that it was an “attack on Christians.”
In the hours after the attack, Trump called it “horrendous” and said “there was a lot to learn” about the suspect.
Leavitt did, however, reveal other operational details Patel had shared with her.
She said: “He assured me and the American public that the FBI is currently executing multiple search warrants at the residences and the family homes of this perpetrator to try to get to the bottom of why he would commit such an act of evil.
“[Sanford’s] family is cooperating with the FBI and so they are currently trying to dig in and get to the bottom of why he committed…this heinous act of violence.”
Patel—nicknamed “Keystone Kash” for his crime-fighting flubs—has come under pressure for making public specific details of the Sept. 10 killing of Charlie Kirk, and of last week’s ICE shoot-up in Dallas.
A Marine Corps spokesperson confirmed Sanford was a veteran deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2007.
“He’s a homegrown kid who misses his family when he’s gone,” Sanford’s father said ahead of his deployment to Iraq at the time. “Jake’s going voluntarily and plans on returning to this community when his service is over. We are very proud of him.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and FBI for comment.
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