Headline Roundup • October 3rd, 2025
LDS Church Members Raise $300k for Shooter's Family After Deadly Attack
Summary from the AllSides News Team
A crowdfunding campaign for the family of a gunman who targeted the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Michigan, killing four people and injuring eight others, has raised over $300,000.
Donation Campaign: David Butler, a member of the church, started the campaign as a way to support the suspect's–identified as Thomas Jacob Sanford–wife and children, including a chronically ill son. Sanford, 40, was killed by police in a shootout. Butler said the initial goal was to raise $10,000, but by Thursday, over 7,600 people had donated over $300,000 to the fund. In a phone interview with NBC News (Lean Left bias), Butler said he was "horrified" by the attack, and the donations show "There are thousands of Mormons here specifically who, when there was an attack that killed four of their co-religionists by a guy who clearly had a beef against Mormons, responded by trying to help take care of his family." NBC also quoted Sanford's family saying, "The fundraising effort…is an unprecedented display of compassion and grace, for which we are deeply grateful."
Sanford's Religious Views: New York Post (Lean Right) and Straight Arrow News (Center) mentioned Sanford's "anti-Mormon" views before the shooting. Straight Arrow News quoted Kris Johns, a Burton City Council candidate, who encountered Sanford in the weeks leading up to the attack, saying Sanford expressed animosity towards the LDS church and allegedly called Mormons "the antichrist." Johns also said nothing in that brief interaction seemed violent or threatening, and Sanford didn't mention an attack. New York Post wrote Sanford "reportedly had a twisted hatred for the Mormon faith."
Forgiveness Amid Violence: The donation campaign comes after a similar moment of forgiveness by Erika Kirk, the widow of political commentator Charlie Kirk. During Kirk's memorial service on September 21, Erika Kirk publicly forgave her husband's alleged killer, saying, "That young man…I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and it's what Charlie would do." Fox News (Right) highlighted faith leaders who commended Erika, including Bishop Robert Barron, founder of Word on Fire Ministries, who called it "one of the most impressive and moving displays of the Gospel I ever experienced."
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Featured Coverage of this Story
After a gunman killed four people and injured eight more at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, on Sunday, a member of the church has raised money for the shooter’s family. So far, the fundraiser has brought in more than $200,000 in donations.
Jeff Kowalsky / AFP - Getty Images
Multiple fundraisers have emerged in the wake of the church shooting in Michigan, where four people were killed and eight others were injured in a gunman’s rampage.
From AP
A fundraiser set up by a Mormon family is raising money for the kin of Michigan Latter-day Saints church shooter Thomas Sanford in a remarkable act of compassion.
