‘This appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America,’ the president said.
President Donald Trump on Sunday called for an end to an “epidemic of violence” across the United States following a shooting that left casualties at a Mormon church in Michigan, calling it a “targeted attack” against Christians.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he was “briefed on the horrendous shooting” and that the FBI was “immediately” on the scene after the shooting.
“This appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America,” Trump wrote in the post. “The Trump Administration will keep the Public posted, as we always do. In the meantime, PRAY for the victims, and their families.”
The president added in all caps that “this epidemic of violence in our country must end, immediately.”
Trump appeared to reference recent high-profile shootings, including a mass shooting at a Catholic church last month, the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk earlier this month, and a shooting that left one person dead at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in Dallas several days ago. A shooting at a North Carolina marina on Saturday night also left three people dead and eight others injured.
Hundreds of people were inside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township when a 40-year-old man rammed his vehicle into the front door, exited the vehicle, and started shooting, Police Chief William Renye told reporters in a news conference.
The suspect is believed to have also set the church on fire, Renye said. Flames and smoke could be seen for hours before the blaze was put out. First responders were then seen sifting through the wreckage.
“We do believe we will find some additional victims once we find the area where the fire was,” Renye said.
The suspect used an assault rifle in the shooting, Renye said.
An assault rifle generally refers to a select-fire, fully automatic rifle. Machine guns were effectively banned in a 1986 measure called the Firearm Owners Protection Act, only allowing machine guns that were made before 1986 available to civilians and generally making them rare and expensive to obtain.
