Fire and Shots in the House of God - A Sunday that Shook Michigan

It was shortly after the beginning of the service when in Grand Blanc Township, north of Detroit, the peace of Sunday Mass was torn apart in an inferno of violence. Hundreds of people had gathered in the chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when a 40-year-old man, a veteran, Trump supporter, that is already confirmed, rammed his pickup through the entrance area, got out and opened fire. In a few minutes the house of worship turned into a deadly trap. Two people lost their lives, several were injured. Eyewitnesses reported that he then deliberately set the building on fire - flames and smoke were visible for hours.

The police reacted immediately, officers pursued the perpetrator after he had left the house of worship. A few streets further there was an exchange of fire, the attacker was fatally shot by officers. "We assume that he deliberately set the fire," said Police Chief William Renye. Still today investigators searched his apartment in the neighboring town of Burton. Hours after the crime the full extent of the destruction became visible: burned out walls, shattered windows, charred pews. Firefighters fought the flames until late into the night while investigators carefully moved through the rubble - in fear of finding more victims. The force of the attack has struck an entire community at its core. "Although we are two independent governmental units, we are a very cohesive community," said Grand Blanc Mayor John Creasey. "It is painful for all of us. My heart is with the families of the victims."

Other faith communities also reacted immediately. Timothy Jones, father of four children and a member of a nearby Mormon congregation, described how the news arrived during their own service. Within minutes his congregation went into lockdown, the children frantically searched for information about friends who had been at a youth festival in the affected church the night before. "Sundays are supposed to be a time of peace," Jones said. "That violence strikes here of all places feels inevitable - and all the more terrible because of it." The national dimension was not long in coming. President Donald Trump said he had been informed and praised the quick response of the federal police, who sent over one hundred agents to Michigan. In a post he expressed his condolences to the families and called for an immediate end to the wave of violence in the country. Governor Gretchen Whitmer spoke of an "attack on the foundation of coexistence," an attack on a place that should actually be a refuge of safety. Snapshot of the perpetrator's license plate

Meanwhile, even strikers from the nearby Henry Ford Clinic spontaneously left their protest to assist first responders. "Human lives are more important than a labor dispute," said Dan Glass of the Teamsters. A sentence that in its simplicity reflects the seriousness of the situation. Particularly tragic is the temporal coincidence: only a few hours earlier the news of the death of Russell M. Nelson, the 101-year-old church president, had become known. According to the protocol of the faith community, Dallin H. Oaks is now to follow in his place. In Utah a spokesman for the church said: "Places of faith are sanctuaries of peace. We pray for all those affected and for healing."

The attack in Grand Blanc joins a frightening series of assaults on houses of worship in the US. In August two children were shot dead during a Catholic service in Minneapolis. Synagogues, mosques, churches - hardly any faith community has been spared in the past two decades. That this time it struck a Mormon community in the Midwest once again shows how unpredictable the violence has been.

But unlike what right-wing propagandists of course suggested in initial reactions, there is no evidence of a politically motivated act by leftist groups. Rather, the current investigations point to a lone perpetrator who carried his hatred into a holy house and reduced it to ashes. The truth is cruel enough - without conspiracy narratives distorting it, but already one thing is clear: there are no indications that the man belonged to a political group like "Antifa" or a similar movement. He is so far clearly assigned by the police, behind closed doors, to the right-wing scene. Let us wait and see what Trump will once again fantasize out of it.

Grand Blanc will need a long time to process this Sunday. For the victims there remains a heap of sorrow, burned wood and a question that lingers unanswered in the smoke: Why?

To be continued .....