When a gunman attacked a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel in Michigan on Sunday, killing 4 individuals and injuring eight others, David Butler, a member of the Mormon church from Utah, mentioned his preliminary response was that it was “an evil act.”
However after listening to the suspect, Thomas Jacob Sanford, who was killed in a shootout with police, left behind a spouse and kids, together with a chronically unwell son, Butler mentioned he felt compelled to assist them.
On Tuesday, Butler created an account on the crowdfunding website GiveSendGo, hoping, he mentioned, to boost $10,000 for the alleged killer’s household. However as of Thursday afternoon, greater than 7,600 individuals had donated greater than $300,000 to the fund.
A pickup truck allegedly utilized by the suspect to ram the entrance doorways of a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel in Grand Blanc, Michigan, in a lethal assault, September 28, 2025, sits exterior the chapel as police examine the crime.
The Related Press
Requested why he arrange the account for the household of a person who focused members of his religion, the 53-year-old Butler informed ABC Information in a telephone interview on Thursday, “It was truly fairly easy.”
“Jesus tells us that we should always do that. We must always love our enemies, that we should always mourn with those who mourn, that we should always take care of the widow and the orphan,” mentioned Butler, a lawyer and writer of fantasy and science fiction books.
After the capturing, different crowdsourced donation campaigns have been created on behalf of the victims who have been killed and wounded, elevating tens of hundreds of {dollars}.
Smoke and hearth rise, following an incident through which a person crashed his car by way of the entrance doorways of a Michigan church and opened hearth with an assault rifle and set the church ablaze, in Grand Blanc, Michigan, Sept. 28, 2025.
Heem Vaniawala by way of Reuters
“It grew to become apparent that no one was doing something to take care of Sanford’s household, and it was apparent they have been going to wish it,” Butler mentioned.
Investigators have mentioned that the 40-year-old Sanford, a Marine veteran who served within the Iraq Conflict, allegedly went on a rampage on Sunday morning, ramming his pickup truck by way of the entrance door of the LDS chapel in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan.
The burned church as emergency providers reply to a capturing and hearth on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, September 28, 2025 in Grand Blanc, Michigan.
Invoice Pugliano/Getty Pictures
After crashing into the chapel, Sanford, armed with what authorities described as an “assault rifle,” unleashed a barrage of gunfire on a whole bunch of worshipers earlier than setting the chapel on hearth, burning it to the bottom.
Whereas investigators have but to state a motive for the assault, friends of Sanford informed ABC Information that he harbored an animus towards the religion after courting a Mormon lady in Utah a number of years in the past and even contemplating changing to the faith.
“Sure, a few of my individuals have been murdered,” Butler mentioned of the 4 individuals killed within the assault. “Sure, that was an terrible and evil act.”
Butler mentioned he did not know any of the victims or anybody who was within the chapel in the course of the assault.
Butler mentioned that since he began the crowdfunding account, he is obtained blowback from individuals who he mentioned have referred to as him “evil” and “self-aggrandizing,” and informed him he ought to “increase cash for the true victims.”
“She didn’t ship off her husband within the morning, saying, ‘Good luck killing the Mormons,'” Butler mentioned of Sanford’s widow. “They’re victims, too. They misplaced their father. That is going to be an financial detriment to them for years. They have already got a chronically sick baby.”
Butler mentioned most of the individuals donating to Sanford’s household seem like Latter-day Saints as nicely, providing prayers for the Sanford household.
“I do not know what … quantity we’re at now, however at the very least 7,500 or so individuals checked out that and mentioned, ‘Yeah, you have been proper. There may be one other set of victims right here that we hadn’t considered, and I wish to assist them.'”
Butler mentioned he has but to talk to Sanford’s widow, however added, “I’ve spoken to someone else who’s near her and it was a really arduous dialog as a result of they’re struggling.”
