GRAND BLANC, MI — A conservation officer who helped neutralize a Michigan church shooter was in the “right place, right time,” an attorney for law enforcement said.
“He was on duty and happened to be driving by the church when the call (for help) went out,” said attorney Marc Curtis, who represents law enforcement with Defender of the Blue firm.
“It was the right place, right time,” he said.
The timing allowed the conservation officer to be on the scene of the tragic mass shooting less than a minute after the initial 911 call was made.
Curtis communicated with the Department of Natural Resources conservation officer after the Sunday, Sept. 28 attack at Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc.
The attack killed five, including the shooter, and injured eight others.
Police said Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, of Burton, drove his truck into the church, opened fire on the congregation and then set the church ablaze.
The conservation officer and a Grand Blanc Township police officer both were at the scene within 30 seconds of the first 911 call.
Within eight minutes, the two officers “neutralized” Sanford in a back parking lot of the church.
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Curtis described the DNR employee as a veteran officer. He did not want to go into detail about the moments before and after Sanford died.
The conservation officer, Curtis said, doesn’t want to be viewed as heroic.
“He was just doing his job like he would expect any other law enforcement officer to do,” he said.
State DNR conservation officers carry weapons and have the same training as any other certified law enforcement officer.
“They just wear green uniforms and drive a pickup,” Curtis said.
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Curtis said the conservation officer is still processing what happened.
“He’s way more concerned about the congregation and the victims than he is for himself,” he said.
