As the investigations continued on Tuesday in two separated mass shootings allegedly perpetrated during the weekend by the marine veterans who wielded assault rifles, one in Michigan and the other in North Carolina, numerous questions remain unanswered, chief among them reason.
The attacks in a bar in front of the sea in Southport, North Carolina, and in a Church of Jesus Christ of the last days in Grand Blanc, Michigan, left seven people dead and more than a dozen injured.
Until now, federal and state researchers have thrown little light on why the suspects, which had been deployed in the Iraq war, supposedly committed unrelated attacks.
The smoke and fire rise, after an incident in which a man crashed his vehicle through the front doors of a Michigan church and opened fire with an assault rifle and turned on the church in Grand Blanc, Michigan, on September 28, 2025.
Heem Vaniawala through Reuters
No additional news conferences have been scheduled for Tuesday in any of the cases.
The reason remains under investigation in both attacks
The researchers in Michigan alleged that around 10:25 am on Sunday, Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, from Burton, Michigan, stuck his truck through the doors of the Sud church in Grand Blanc, Michigan, and released a barrier of shooting in hundreds of people who worship there before setting fire to the chapel.
Four people died in the attack and eight others were injured, two critically, the authorities said.
A van supposedly used by the suspect to ram the doors of a church of Jesus Christ of the Chapel of the last days in Grand Blanc, Michigan, in a deadly attack, on September 28, 2025, is outside the chapel while the police investigate the crime.
The Association press
Sanford, who said the police acted alone, was killed during a shooting with the police, authorities said.
Reuben Coleman, a special interim agent in charge of the FBI Detroit field, said at a press conference on Monday that the attack is being investigated as “an act of directed violence.”
“We continue working to determine a reason,” Coleman said.
When the reporters asked why the attack is not considered an act of domestic terrorism, Coleman said: “Once we can definitely determine what we have, it is when we will make those statements. But at this time, this is an act of violence.”
In comparison, federal officials quickly called a sniper attack on September 24 against an immigration and customs center of the United States in Dallas that left two dead detainees, an act of terrorism.
Exposing what he meant with “directed violence,” said Coleman, “I mean directed within our state and within our community.”
Coleman said the researchers interviewed more than 100 victims and witnesses in the first 24 hours of the investigation, but shared little about what has been learned about the reason.
Michigan’s suspect expressed anger towards the Mormons, friends say
In an interview with ABC News, Kris Johns, a candidate for Burton City Council, said he met Sanford while campaigning only a few days ago and that Sanford expressed anger towards the Mormons.
The man suspected of opening fire in a Sud church in Michigan on Sunday was a 40 -year -old veteran of the Iraq war, according to the officials.
Brenda Walters-Sanford
The twin brothers Peter and Francis Tersigni of Michigan told ABC News on Tuesday that they grew up in Michigan with Sanford, whom they referred to as “Jake”, and confirmed that he housed a mood against the Mormons.
The brother said that after leaving the army in 2008, after four years in the Marines of the United States, Sanford moved to Utah for a job and went out with a woman there that was Mormon, and that Sanford had talked about turning religion.
Peter Tersigni, who said that once he was a best friend of Sanford, said that while he lived in Utah, Sanford got a lot on drugs, specifically methamphetamine.
“His life was ruined and his head was ruined. And it turned out to be at the time he was close to the Mormons,” said Peter Tersigni.
Peter Tersigni said that Sanford returned to Michigan around 2010. He said that Sanford would go in tangents on Mormons, generally while drinking alcohol, he belittled the church, but would never attribute his negative feelings about religion to his break with the Mormon woman with whom he had come out.
North Carolina Court made by ‘Lone Wolf’: Police
North Carolina’s attack occurred around 9:30 pm on Saturday, approximately 12 hours before Michigan’s mass shooting, and the researchers alleged that it was carried out by Nigel Edge, 40, whom they described as a “lone wolf”, which opened fire from a boat in an outdoor water bar in Southport, killing three people and hurting another five.
“We believe this was a specific location,” said Southport Police chief Todd Coring, during a press conference on Sunday. “This is very premeditated of what we are seeing right now.”
The alleged Nigel Edge gunman is shown in this reserve photo published by the Police, on September 28, 2025.
Southport Police Department.
But Cuting and other officials in charge of enforcing the law have not yet published more details about the possible reason.
Edge was arrested shortly after the shooting on the nearby Oak island while carrying his boat on a public boat ramp, authorities said.
Edge is accused of three first -degree murder positions, five positions of murder attempt; And five assault charges with a mortal weapon with the intention of killing or wounding, the authorities said. He still has to present a supplication to the charges and was appointed public defender during his first appearance in the Court on Monday.
Prosecutors said they are weighing whether to continue the death penalty against Edge.
Edge received the purple heart after being injured in combat, according to the Marines of the United States.
The suspect legally changed his name in 2023 of Sean de Sevoise, writing in a request to the Court: “There have been many events in my life that I do not understand. Therefore, I do not trust my family, and I would feel more comfortable starting my life in a new path with a new name.”
Weapons used in each attack
The investigators said in a criminal complaint that Edge opened fire at the Southport Bar with a short barrel rifle that was equipped with a suppressor, a scope and a folding stock. The authorities have not yet revealed how many shots were shot in the incident.
In Michigan’s attack, officials have only described the weapon supposedly used by Sanford as a “assault rifle.”
The authorities have not said publicly how Edge or Sanford obtained their weapons. The authorities have not commented how long they believe that each suspect planned their respective attacks.
Police investigate a shooting, on September 27, 2025, in the coastal city of North Carolina of Southport that left three people dead and eight other wounds
Wway
After he was arrested, Edge told the researchers that he was injured in the fulfillment of duty as Marine and said he suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder, according to Coring.
Jon David, the local district prosecutor, said at a press conference on Sunday, that Edge had some minor contacts with the police, “but nothing significant in his past to give us any indication that we were able to be able to horror.”
During a press conference on Monday, Michigan officials said Sanford had previous arrests for robbery and operate a drunk vehicle.
Suspect connections with objectives
The authorities have not revealed whether Edge or Sanford had previous connections with the objectives they allegedly attacked.
In Michigan’s shooting, the witnesses said they did not recognize Sanford as someone associated with the chapel.
In the Southport shooting, the authorities have not said why Edge supposedly opened fire against the American Fish Company Bar or if it was a pattern of the establishment. But Coring asked anyone in the bar on Friday, the day before the shooting, or on Saturday night, he will communicate with the researchers immediately.
Ieds and American flags found in Michigan’s suspicious truck
Regarding Michigan’s attack, the researchers recovered four improvised explosive devices of the truck that Sanford allegedly used to go to the Sud Chapel, James Deir, on Monday special agent in charge of the Detroit field office of the Federal Office of Alcohol, Tobaco, Firearms and Explosives.
ABC News has learned from familiar sources with the investigation that IEDs were made of fireworks of the degree of consumption.
The researchers believe that the suspect allegedly fires the chapel after soaking with gasoline, but it is not clear what the suspect with the FDIs planned.
The researchers have not commented on the possible meaning of the American flags that Michigan’s suspect had been attached to the rear bed for the truck used in the attack.
Deir said that the ATF national response team, composed of a fire box caused by the world fire and explosive researchers are involved in the investigation.
Andy Fies and Alex Pérez of ABC News contributed to this report.
