At least one person has died and several more are in a critical condition after a gunman set fire to a Mormon church in Michigan before shooting at congregants.
Police said a 40-year-old man opened fire on more than a hundred people who gathered for a service at the Michigan Church of Latter Day Saints in Grand Blanc on Sunday.
The unnamed suspect, who authorities have said was from nearby Burton, was shot dead by officers at the scene as flamed engulfed the church.
Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renye said the gunman rammed his vehicle through the front door of the church before opening fire with an assault rifle
Renye told a press conference that police and FBI detectives are ‘still determining how the fire started’ but they believe it was ‘deliberately set by the suspect’.
‘Ten gunshot victims have been transported to local hospitals at this time including one who has been confirmed deceased,’ Renye said.
‘We do believe we will find additional victims once the scene has been secured,’ he added, implying that police believe some congregants burned alive.
‘The (church) service was active,’ Renye said. ‘There were more than a hundred people inside the church at the time.’
A source also told CNN that a bomb squad has been assessing a ‘suspicious item’ found at the scene which investigators believe could be an improvised device.
Grand Blanc is a suburb of Flint, located around 60 miles northwest of central Detroit.
Photographs and video shared on social media show a fire tearing through the church with a large plume of smoke overhead.
Emergency vehicles could be seen parked outside as first responders rushed to help the wounded.
At least one person was carried away from the scene on a stretcher as smoke spread in all directions.
The shooter has not been publicly identified. A motive for the violent rampage has not been given.
Police Chief Renye said the shooter was ‘neutralized’ during a shootout involving two officers, one from the Department of Natural Resources and another from Grand Blanc Township.
Writing on social media, one witness said the church had been ‘completely destroyed’ by the blaze, and that they saw the shooter’s truck parked in front of the building.
Sheriff Swanson of the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office said ‘the entire church is on fire’ as he spoke in a live video from the scene.
‘We do have multiple victims,’ he added.
Grand Blanc Township Police said just before 1pm that the fire had been ‘contained’.
‘We do not have names of victims at his time,’ the department added.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer condemned the atrocity in an X post.
‘My heart is breaking for the Grand Blanc community,’ she wrote. ‘Violence anywhere, especially in a place of worship, is unacceptable.
‘I am grateful to the first responders who took action quickly.
‘We will continue to monitor this situation and hold the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Grand Blanc close.’