09/28/2026
One year ago this morning, a Sunday service on McCandlish Road turned into the darkest day Grand Blanc Township has ever known.
Just before 10:30 a.m., a gunman drove his pickup through the front wall of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, opened fire on families gathered to worship, and set the building on fire. Hundreds of people sat inside. Children filled the classrooms. Within minutes, a place built for peace became an active shooter scene, a mass casualty incident, and a working structure fire all at once.
Four of our neighbors never made it home. Craig Hayden, William "Pat" Howard, John Bond, and Thelma Armstrong. Craig, a church leader from Fenton, spent fifty years married to his wife, Carol, and his family says he died helping someone else. John, a 77-year-old Navy veteran and father of six, served from 1968 to 1975 aboard the USS Dixon and the USS Scamp, then led VFW Post 4642 in Linden. Pat, 77, came from Holly. Thelma worshipped in that chapel beside the people who loved her most. Every one of them left behind a family, an empty seat, and a hole no new building will fill.
We also hold close the people wounded that morning. And the hundreds more who ran from that chapel carrying memories nobody should ever carry.
Long before any of us arrived, the congregation started saving one another. Church members shielded children and moved them to safety. Resident physicians sitting in those pews became victims and first responders at the same moment, and one emergency room doctor ran back into the burning building to reach his children and help others. Ordinary people. Seconds to decide. Extraordinary choices.
Then came the responders. Grand Blanc Township police officers stopped the gunman and pulled children and adults out as smoke filled the church. Over at Genesee County 911, call-takers heard gunfire and screaming in real time and kept working the lines anyway. Our first-due engine rolled in with a captain, a sergeant, and one of our newest firefighters. They set up command, masked up, and went inside to search while the threat picture still hadn't cleared. Those crews pushed as far as the fire would let them. When the roof started to fail, command pulled everyone out, and nobody on that fireground will ever forget that moment.
We didn't stand alone for one minute of that day. More than 150 firefighters from 31 departments answered the call and stayed with us through a defensive operation that ran past five hours, with crews on scene for more than twelve. Suspected explosive devices forced firefighters out of the hot zone three separate times. Each time, they reset and went back to work. The FBI and ATF took on the investigation. Staff at Henry Ford Genesys met wave after wave of patients. To every agency, officer, medic, and dispatcher who showed up for Grand Blanc, thank you. You carried us when we couldn't carry ourselves.
The weight didn't lift when the last rig went back in service. Some of our members still stand on that fireground in their sleep, and that's human, not weakness. Over this past year, we've moved beyond a single debrief toward peer support that lasts, and we've made sure our dispatchers get the same priority as the people on the apparatus. We've also turned hard lessons into training, so the next crew facing fire used as a weapon walks in better prepared. If you responded that day and you're still carrying something heavy, reach out. Your peer team, your officers, and I are here for you. Asking for help takes the same courage as walking through that front door.
The community showed up too. People across Grand Blanc and all over Michigan rallied behind the church through the Grand Blanc Strong effort. Hundreds gathered under a sunset sky to honor the victims and survivors, and local officials set up a Victim Compassion Fund for those affected. Then the congregation that lost the most turned around and gave back. They sent a semi-truck of food to FISH of Grand Blanc, their second delivery since the attack.
Tonight, one year to the day, the rebuilding begins. The church breaks ground on a new, larger Grand Blanc Stake Center at 4285 McCandlish Road, with construction expected to take about 14 months. The ceremony starts at 5:30 p.m., and streams live on the church's YouTube page.
Grief and hope can share the same ground. We'll carry Craig, Pat, John, and Thelma with us on every call we answer. And we'll keep showing up for this community, the same way you showed up for us.
