Online campaign raises nearly $300K for Michigan church shooter’s family

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.

One such fundraiser, which is quickly approaching $300,000 in donations in 48 hours, has been earmarked not for the families of victims but rather for the family of the gunman who attacked the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints congregation Sunday in Grand Blanc Township.

Dave Butler, a Utah fantasy and science-fiction writer and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said he has no affiliation with the Grand Blanc Township congregation or with Thomas Jacob Sanford, the man accused of ramming his truck into the building and opening fire.

Yet Butler said he felt compelled to start the online fundraiser because Sanford’s wife and young son are also victims.

“It seems obvious to me that it is awful to be shot or to lose a loved one to the shooter in such an event, and it is also awful if your loved one who dies in the event is the shooter,” Butler said in a phone interview Thursday. “It’s a different kind of awful. It’s not worse; it’s not better, either.”

Since the campaign launched Tuesday on GiveSendGo, more than 7,000 people have donated over $295,000. The fundraising platform said in a statement Thursday that the campaign is still in the process of verification.

Butler said that on the first day of the campaign, one family gave $5,000. The family quoted a religious scripture in their donation.

Several other large donors, most of them anonymous, gave $750 to $2,000. But the average contribution is under $40, Butler said.

“Your family has been on my heart and in my prayers along with all those who suffer through this tragic event. We hope this helps and you find peace and comfort through our Savior Jesus Christ,” one of the donors wrote.

“Our hearts break for this family,” another posted. “As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we grieve with you and pray for your peace.”

Another donor wrote: “We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We are Christians. As Christians and followers of Christ we ‘mourn with those that mourn, comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and stand as witnesses of God’. We’re praying for you and your family.”

The family of victim Pat Howard declined to comment on the fundraiser for the shooter’s family.

Craig Hayden, 72, was killed as he tried to help another worshipper escape gunfire. One of Hayden’s relatives said the gunman’s family needs “more love and compassion than we do.”

Authorities have not released a motive in the attack.

Longtime friends and associates of Sanford’s said he was a dedicated family man, but they also acknowledged that he had struggled with drug addiction and could be a “hot head.”

Kris Johns, a candidate for the City Council in Burton, where Sanford lived, said that during a recent interaction, Sanford said he believed “Mormons are the Antichrist.”

Butler, who said he was “horrified” by the attack, said the donations his campaign has received show that members of the faith “believe the Bible and try to live by the Bible.”

“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,” he said.

While Butler said most of the messages he receives have been positive, others have called him “evil,” accused him of trying to seek attention and demanded that he shut down the campaign.

“If you can’t see that that is turning the other cheek and mourning with those who mourn and taking care of the least among us and seeking to be one and being peacemakers and caring for the widows and orphans, if your response to this is to criticize Mormons or to try and cut them out, man, I just think you’re not seeing all the love,” he said.

Butler said that he has talked to the Sanford family and that there’s “every indication” that they will accept the donations.

An attorney representing the Sanford family said in a statement Thursday that they continue to grieve with the victims of the shooting. “The fundraising effort for our family by the church and community is an unprecedented display of compassion and grace, for which we are deeply grateful.”