The mother of the Mormon church shooter posted an ominous message in the days before the massacre about being “hurt” by someone close to her who “constantly avoids accountability.”
Gunman Thomas Jacob Sanford’s mom, Brenda Walters-Sanford, shared the message on Friday, just two days before the ex-Marine rammed a pickup into a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, opened fire and set the building ablaze.
It read: “Talking to someone who constantly avoids accountability is not a real conversation—it’s a battle. It’s a cycle of deflection, projection, twisting, and playing the victim.
“When I try to express how your actions have hurt me, you don’t listen with the intention of understanding; you listen with the intention of defending yourself. That’s not communication—that’s self-preservation of your ego.”
The wording appears to have circulated widely on Facebook as a viral chain, rather than being an original post by Walters-Sanford, who did not indicate whom she was referring to.
The post continued: “I don’t owe my peace to someone who only wants to win an argument, not to understand my heart. My energy is not a prize for someone committed to misunderstanding me.
“At some point, you have to value yourself enough to stop begging someone to hear you.”
Walters-Sanford did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Her 40-year-old son, who appears to be a Donald Trump supporter, killed four people and injured eight more before dying in a police shootout minutes later. Investigators are still seeking a motive.
The Marine Corps has confirmed Sanford was a veteran who deployed in 2007 during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Ahead of that tour, his father said: “He’s a homegrown kid who misses his family when he’s gone. Jake’s going voluntarily and plans on returning to this community when his service is over. We are very proud of him.”
But one family friend told journalist Ty Steele that she had been told Sanford was battling PTSD.
“He would make comments occasionally and it was something that was kind of talked about,” she said. “It wasn’t talked about in depth… so I don’t know the depth of his issues.”
Investigators are seeking a motive for Sanford’s assault, although Trump has stated it was an “attack on Christians.” His spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt revealed on Monday that FBI director Kash Patel had told her that Sanford “hated Mormons.”
Leavitt said Sanford’s family was cooperating with the FBI, which was “executing multiple search warrants at the residences and family homes of Sanford”—making it possible their social media accounts will factor into the investigation.
Brenda Walters-Sanford, like her son, appears to be a MAGA supporter—with one social media post showing her with a Trump-Vance sign.
Over the past five years, her son—whose home in Burton, Michigan, had a Trump flag displayed outside, and who has been photographed wearing a Trump shirt—has made several Facebook posts which give further hints about his political leanings.
He shared multiple posts mocking Joe Biden and “socialism,” praising Trump and Turning Point USA, and railing against the use of surgical masks, which was generally seen as a MAGA concern during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With all evidence pointing towards Sanford having been a Trump supporter, MAGA influencers wasted no time spinning conspiracies about massacre.
The president’s Truth Social post framing the rampage as “yet another targeted attack on Christians,” was eagerly echoed by high-profile boosters like Gunther Eagleman, filmmaker Robbie Starbuck, and podcaster Bennie Johnson.
Some posters tried to blame Democrats, inventing supposed links to the “trans cult,” and referencing the Sept. 10 killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk to suggest a coordinated anti-Mormon, anti-Christian campaign.
And when all else failed, some users simply declared the culprit could not be one of their own, with one labeling the massacre a “setup to frame MAGA conservatives.”
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