At least four people were killed, and eight others were injured at the beginning of this month, after a man drove a vehicle through the front doors of a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and opened fire on parishioners during Sunday service.

Officials have identified the suspect. According to police, Sanford exited the vehicle and began firing an assault rifle before he was killed at the scene. Authorities also said the gunman set a fire at the church. As many as three improvised devices were discovered at the scene, according to senior U.S. law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation.

Acts of Heroism and Community Grief

The death toll could have been higher if not for the heroes inside the church, according to Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson.

Authorities in the crowded sanctuary, Sheriff Swanson described witnessing moments he will never forget, including firefighters, some in their late 50s, crawling through the rubble searching for survivors. He recalled a victim who gave his life to protect that flock and noted that children who were present were stoic and calm- likely due to the active shooter training they had received in school.

Swanson later spoke emotionally about the community response. “When I saw the community of the LDS church, they gathered under the pavilion, and they were all embracing each other. They knew that they had lost people, but they stuck together as a community. They stuck together as a church,” he said.

He urged the community to focus on healing, calling acts of unity little micro steps of not only healing but also turning the tide. The identification of Thomas Jacob Sanford has reportedly left his former colleagues flabbergasted. Garry Reynolds Jr., who worked with Sanford for about 10 years at a Coca-Cola distribution center in Flint, described him as a hilarious and really good guy who had a passion for planting a large field of sunflowers that people would visit to take pictures. Reynolds noted that he couldn’t recall any red flags or complaints about Sanford’s behavior at work. He summarized the shock felt by those who knew him, saying, “Everyone’s just going, ‘What happened? Where in his life did it crack?