warning: graphic content
Newly-released police bodycam footage shows the moment cops in Michigan gun down Mormon church killer Thomas Jacob Sanford after he shot and killed four congregants.
The tense video, obtained by Fox News, shows an armed Grand Blanc police officer running toward the Church of Latter Day Saints on Sept. 28, as other cops are heard shouting at the gunman.
“Shoot him,” one officer is heard yelling.
Bodycam footage shows cops pursuing the suspected Michigan church shooter Thomas Sanford. Grand Blanc Township Police“Drop the gun now!” another voice said. “Get on the ground!”
Several shots then ring out, and Sandford is seen lying lifeless on the ground in the parking lot of the burning church.
Grand Blanc Police Chief William Renye told the outlet that the footage shows exactly “what law enforcement is trained to do.”
Police can be heard shouting instructions to the suspect. Grand Blanc Township PolicePolice arrived at the scene in mere minutes after Sanford rammed his pickup truck into the church and opened fire during a packed service before setting fire to the building.
Grand Blanc cops got the first 911 call at 10:25 a.m., and were at the scene two minutes later, according to officials.
Four people were killed and eight others wounded during the shocking assault, police said.
Shots can be heard in the background. Grand Blanc Township PoliceAmong those killed was 77-year-old John Bond, a U.S. Navy veteran; Pat Howard, who was at the service with his wife; Craig Hayden, a 78-year-old grandfather; and Thelma Armstrong, who was at the church with her daughter.
The youngest victim was Piper Hickens, a 6-year-old kindergartener who was among those wounded.
Police said all of the congregants at the church at the time of the attack have been accounted for.
Thomas Sanford killed four people during the attack. Facebook/Jake SanfordSanford, a former US Marine who served in Iraq, had developed an unhinged obsession with the Mormon faith and was very vocal about his feelings, according to friends and authorities.
“Based on my conversations with the FBI director, all they know right now is this was an individual who hated people of the Mormon faith,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said after the attack.
“They are trying to understand more about this, how premeditated it was, how much planning went into it, whether he left a note,” she said.
Friends said Sanford changed when he returned from overseas, using drugs and developing a bizarre hatred for the Mormon church.
“Mentally, he was in rough shape,” former pal Peter Tersigni said.
