The mother of the Michigan church shooter shared an ominous social media post about the struggles of dealing with someone who ‘never takes responsibility’ just days before her ex-Marine son carried out a deadly attack.
Brenda Walters-Sanford posted on September 26, two days before her son, Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, drove his truck into the Grand Blanc Township church, opened fire, and set the building on fire, killing four people. “Talking to someone who constantly avoids accountability is not a real conversation – it’s a battle. It’s a cycle of deflection, projection, twisting, and playing the victim,” the post on her since-deleted account, which was obtained by the Daily Mail, reported.
Ominous Message About Son
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“When I try to express how your actions have hurt me, you don’t listen with the intention of understanding; you listen with the intention of defending yourself. That’s not communication — that’s self-preservation of your ego.”
The post appeared to be part of a widely shared chain that many users frequently repost.
“I don’t owe my peace to someone who only wants to win an argument, not to understand my heart. My energy is not a prize for someone committed to misunderstanding me. At some point, you have to value yourself enough to stop begging someone to hear you,” the post read.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the mother was talking about anyone in particular.
Other posts on her social media showed her backing President Trump, along with a picture of her son out hunting. Meanwhile, Trump condemned Sunday’s shooting, calling it an attack on Christians after the tragedy left at least four people dead and eight more injured.
Motive Still Unclear
The FBI was still working to figure out why the Iraq War veteran drove his pickup truck, decorated with an American flag, into the church and started shooting while a service was underway.
After that, Sanford set the church on fire even though hundreds of people were still inside.
On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the attacker “hated people of the Mormon faith.”
“From what I understand 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,” Leavitt told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” on Monday morning without elaborating any further.
“They are trying to understand more about this: How premeditated it was, how much planning went into it, whether he left a note.”
Investigators have been searching through Sanford’s home, but so far, officials haven’t shared any more details about him — including whether or not he was connected to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
