Michigan Church Attacker Is Said to Have Held a Grudge Against Mormons

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Last edited Tue Sep 30, 2025, 09:04 AM - Edit history (3)

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/us/michigan-church-attack.html

https://archive.ph/91LqU

Michigan Church Attacker Is Said to Have Held a Grudge Against Mormons
Several friends and acquaintances of the man accused of attacking a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meetinghouse said he had long railed against the faith.
By Tim Arango, Anushka Patil and Thomas Fuller
Sept. 29, 2025

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Peter Tersigni, who lives in Michigan, said he had known Mr. Sanford since preschool and called him his best friend. A four-year stint in the Marine Corps, including time in Iraq, changed his friend from the former class clown into a more serious person, Mr. Tersigni said.

But his time living in Utah and heavy use of methamphetamine appeared to change him more. There, he fell in love with a woman who was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the relationship ended painfully, his friend said.

From then on, Mr. Sanford had a problem with members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and wasn’t shy about sharing it, Mr. Tersigni and his twin brother, Francis Tersigni, recounted in separate interviews on Monday.

“He got this whole fascination with Mormons, and they are the Antichrist, and they are going to take over the world,” Francis Tersigni said. It even came up at Peter Tersigni’s wedding, his brother recalled. “All he could talk about was Mormons,” he said. “I was like, dude, nobody wants to hear about this stuff.”

Sandra Winter, 56, rented a room to Mr. Sanford in Jeremy Ranch, Utah, and also recalled that he had fallen in love with a woman who was an “extremely religious” member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and felt pressured to join.

“He wasn’t so sure that he wanted to become a member of the church,” Ms. Winter said. “But he really wanted to be with this woman.”

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