At vigils, Michiganders remember those lost in Grand Blanc Township church attack

As the sun went down in Grand Blanc on Wednesday, Oct. 1, community members gathered at two area vigils to find comfort in their faith and to remember the lives lost in the Sept. 28 attack on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

At Physicians Park, a group of about 100 gathered. Mothers held their babies close, swaying as they sang Christian songs. Young fathers chased toddlers through the park even as they hummed “Amazing Grace” and “He Will Hold Me Fast,” performed by members of New Heights Baptist Church. Older people raised their arms to the heavens as they prayed, while three teenagers who helped with the emergency response days earlier grew tearful and embraced.

Jon Earnhart, one of the chaplains at the Grand Blanc Township Police Department and pastor of New Heights Baptist Church, which hosted the vigil along with Ekklesia Grand Blanc, said he was in awe of the courage and fast action of the area’s first responders that day.

People sing together during a hymns and praise event put on by Ekklesia of Grand Blanc and New Heights Baptist Church held at Physicians Park in Grand Blanc on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, in response to helping the community heal following a mass shooting that took place at nearby The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township on Sunday. (USA TODAY Network)

Police say an armed former Marine named Thomas Jacob Sanford rammed his pickup truck into the side of the church on McCandlish Road in nearby Grand Blanc Township before he opened fire on the congregation, killing four churchgoers and setting fire to the chapel. Multiple people were also injured.

“I have never seen an outpouring of love for our community, the unity with which all of the forces worked together, from just about every city in our area,” Earnhart said. “You should be proud of your first responders. They ran to the threat — firefighters going in and out of the building, risking their lives. They had to see things that were unspeakable.

“We are blessed to have such amazing people in our community. Let’s make sure they know how grateful we are. … That’s what this is about tonight, just to share our love of Christ with others and for our communities to come together and to say: … ‘We’re solid. We’re unified in everything that we’re doing.’ And it’s a shame sometimes it takes a tragedy for us to meet our neighbors, for us to be grateful, for us to come together and pray.”

Dave Worrell, 60, lives down the road from the church where violence struck Sunday. He’s a member of Ekklesia and said he felt drawn to the Wednesday night vigil.

The attack on the church was “very sad,” Worrell said, and highlights a need for greater community outreach and stronger bonds and support.

“People with PTSD and other problems, they need help,” he said. “Our veterans need help. This stuff needs to be identified in our communities. People need to reach out. They’re in our communities, right?”

Susan Wethington of Grand Blanc said she was at her own church, worshipping, when the attack happened across town at another congregation. It was a reminder, she said, that tragedy can strike anywhere.

“Everybody is broken over the whole thing,” she said. “Evil abounds, and we know that, but we don’t expect it to happen in a church, you know? It shouldn’t happen anywhere, but it really shouldn’t happen in a church.”

Co-workers Jasmine Frappier, Kiley Nettleton, and Olivia Perritt, all 17, were at the NCG Cinema Grand Blanc Sunday, which became a refuge for those who escaped the gunshots and fire inside the LDS church, and a site where they could reunify with their loved ones.

Nettleton and Frappier were working at the theater Sunday morning. When word came that the church had been attacked, their manager asked them to quickly shift gears. They helped to evacuate the movie-goers from the building and convert it into a triage center for the wounded as well as a place where FBI and police officers could conduct interviews.

Women help add bible verses to carnations to hand out during a hymns and praise event put on by Ekklesia of Grand Blanc and New Heights Baptist Church held at Physicians Park in Grand Blanc on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, in response to helping the community heal following a mass shooting that took place at nearby The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township on Sunday. (USA TODAY Network)

They offered comfort to those in need, and helped the Red Cross organize the reunification of the churchgoers and their loved ones.

“When tragedy hit, we just kind of volunteered to open our doors and said, ‘Send them in,’ ” Nettleton said.

When Perritt heard what was happening, she volunteered to help out, even though it was her day off.

“It was very hectic,” Frappier said.

Gurneys were setup in hallways. Many of the church members lost their shoes as they ran away from the attack, she said. Others left their belongings behind as they fled the bullets and burning church. They lost their cellphones and had no way to communicate with loved ones.

Frappier remembers loaning her cellphone to a woman who wanted to call her husband to tell him she was OK.

“People were distraught,” Nettleton said. “So we stopped and comforted them.” They gave out water, and helped distribute food and love in the form of hugs.

Even though none of them are members of Ekklesia or New Heights Baptist, all three said they felt drawn to the vigil.

“It felt right,” Perritt said. “It felt like closure.”

At nearby church, faith gathering offers support

Less than a mile away, about 200 people and several therapy dogs packed Grand Blanc United Methodist Church to mourn for the victims of Sunday’s attack.

Pastors from different Christian denominations – Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian – joined together to preach and sing for peace and love. There was a community dinner before the service and in the lobby different breeds of dogs from Mid-Michigan Therapy Dogs, which helped Oxford students after the school shooting, offered comfort as visitors entered.

“In the midst of the darkness of the world, may we be reminded of your light,” the crowd recited together during the 20-minute service at the church, nestled in front of the woods at the end of a residential street. “As we seek to make sense of the senseless, may you show us ways to be light to others and to a world that is hurting.”

The event was led by the church’s pastor, Rev. Brian West, who has been reaching out to help the Grand Blanc community in recent days after the attack.

“In the midst of unspeakable tragedy, we yearn to draw near to God and to one another,” West said to the crowd at the start of the service. “So that he may lift our grief … our anger and our sorrows … so that together we may hold each other. … Oh, Lord, we ache for a day when peace will reign.”

The service included readings of verses from the Bible, reflective prayers and comforting gospel songs. At one point, the pastors beseeched God for help as they mentioned various groups: First responders, doctors who tended to the injured in the attack, children, grandchildren. After a pastor mentioned a specific group, they took a carnation flower from a table and then placed it in one of ten vases standing behind it at the altar.

The pastors explained afterwards that the carnation flower was a symbol of peace and beauty they decided to use instead of lit candles to avoid triggering thoughts about the fire that engulfed the LDS meetinghouse the suspect set ablaze after ramming it with his truck during their Sunday morning services.

“We meet hatred with love,” Rev. Jerry Lasley of St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, one of the pastors who spoke at the service, told the Free Press afterwards. “Our job is to love these folks and to do whatever it takes to help them during this difficult time.”

Bob Tritten, who’s attended the Methodist church in Grand Blanc for 40 years, told the Free Press after the services that he attended because “I wanted to be part of a community of grace, thanksgiving and of mourning. … I’m heartbroken, I’m grieving. It’s really hard to describe. We’re here to support everybody.”

Rev. Nathan Allen of Holy Spirit Lutheran Church, who spoke during the service, said afterward that “it’s important for us to gather as a community … Us gathering together is one sign of strength and light in the midst of a dark time in our community.”

There was a separate service Tuesday evening at LDS’ Flint meetinghouse with David Bednar, a senior leader in the LDS Church who’s part of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said Gary Geiger, a LDS member in metro Detroit who is a spokesman for the church in Michigan. The attendees were mostly members of the Grand Blanc church that was attacked and included survivors. The Tuesday evening service was “the first time for many of them (being) out of the house since Sunday” because of their fears, Geiger said.

“It’s really an important step to be able to come together at that level,” he said.

Contact Kristen Shamus: [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: At vigils, Michiganders remember those lost in Grand Blanc Township church attack

Reporting by Kristen Jordan Shamus and Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press

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