Does a viral image show the man suspected of the September 28, 2025, Michigan church attack? Yes, that's true: The photo originated from an old page on Facebook documenting the medical condition of the man's son, who was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease. What was shared on social media was a slightly cropped version of that picture, but the man's appearance didn't seem to have been altered in any meaningful way. Commenters on social media challenged the authenticity of the photo.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on Threads on September 29, 2025. It opened:
This is the dude from Michigan.
This post included an image of a man in a camo t-shirt seen with a woman and a toddler. This is what the picture looked like on Threads at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of a post at threads.com/@moogsshank)
The post implied that the image showed Thomas Jacob Sanford, suspected (archived here) of carrying out the deadly church attack in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, that took place (archived here) on September 28, 2025.
The full-size, uncropped version of the same image had previously been uploaded (archived here) to Facebook on September 13, 2019. At the time, the photo appeared on a page (archived here) linked to a 2015 fundraiser to cover the costs of medical care for Sanford's child.
That photo showed the same Donald Trump 2020 picture on the t-shirt:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at facebook.com/Brantleesjourney; composite image by Lead Stories)
