Two separate mass shootings — one at a Michigan church and the other at a North Carolina bar — involved suspects who were reportedly Iraq War veterans. The incidents highlight the complex and “often misunderstood” link between military service and mass violence, says James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University criminologist.
The two incidents are not necessarily emblematic of a trend among military veterans, Fox says. He notes that about 23% of all public mass shootings (defined by four or more victims) are committed by individuals with some military service, though not necessarily combat experience.
Thomas Jacob Sanford is alleged to have crashed a vehicle into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan, during Sunday services before opening fire on hundreds of worshipers and setting the building ablaze. The 40-year-old former Marine was killed in a shootout with law enforcement.
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