Grand Blanc church attack raises security questions at places of worship

FOX 2 - A  mass shooting and intentionally set fire left four dead and injured many others at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Sunday.

The backstory:

The shocking tragedy took place in the morning when thousands across the state were likely in their own places of worship, bringing to light urgent questions of security.

"Statistically these events are on the rise," said Brian Bastianelli.

In this case the killer was a marine veteran Thomas Jacob Sanford who crashed his pickup truck into the church, and used an accelerant to spark the blaze that engulfed the structure.

"We say these churches are soft targets, just like schools," said Bastianelli. "Why are they soft?  because they’re part of the community."

The CEO of the Fortis Group said his company is one which handles security measures to keep facilities like churches safe.

"Understanding what are vulnerabilities are is a first step, the second step is taking measures to close those gaps," he said.

Churches can work with consultants and security companies to devise emergency response plans that include first aid training and recognizing suspicious behavior.

Churches can also install high tech surveillance systems and hire armed security.

But if the church budget doesn’t allow that, look within the congregation for help, he says.

"Why not leverage our community - and lots of churches do - to reach within community and use them as a volunteer force to create these safety teams," he said.

Safety teams can include retired or off-duty law enforcement members of the congregation.

"As we say in church, watch as well as you pray," said Wayne County Sheriff Raphael Washington.

But Sheriff Washington says everyone can't bring a gun to church even in the name of safety.

"You can’t have a gun in a church or even on the church property, if you have a CPL license that’s one place you can't have a gun - unless the pastor or designee allows that person," he said.

The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office offers a program at no charge to help churches develop safety protocols.

"We’re having churches contact us and if they want to talk about security issues," Washington said. "What they should be doing in the event of an active shooter we’re making ourselves available and the phone is ringing."

It was June when a Wayne church was attacked by a gunman, he was foiled by a churchgoer hitting him with his vehicle in the parking lot and an armed security guard fatally shooting him.

But some say another impact that could come from is if people stay away from church out of fear.

"That would be the true long-term tragedy to this, keeping people away from their faith."