Attack on Michigan Church: the tactics used look like a new “hybrid threat”

Donell Harvin, an expert in internal security and public health emergencies at the University of Georgetown, told CNN on Sunday that the attacker may have carried out preoperational surveillance and develop a plan that maximizes deaths and damage.

“It looks like a relatively new type of what we call a hybrid threat where not only are you getting chaos, but you also shoot in a crowd-and may have, it seems, potentially triggered the fire,” he added.

According to local law enforcement, the suspect crushed a van through the gateway to the church, then left the vehicle and started to shoot with an assault rifle.

A few minutes later, the police arrived on the scene and shot the man, who died and was then identified as Thomas Jacob Sanford, a 40 -year -old man from the neighboring city of Burton.

The church was also burnt down and US officials of the law enforcement told NBC News up to three improvised devices were found on the scene. The Michigan State Police Bomb team also responded to the attack.

“It creates chaos,” Harvin told CNN. “It could create what we call a deadly funnel trying to drive people to a single place.”

According to the New York PostSanford was a veteran of the navy body that had served in Iraq. The police have not yet determined a reason or if it was linked to the church.

Until now, at least two people have died of the attack, excluding Sanford, and several others are injured. Police said hundreds of people were in the church at the time.

It was recently the last attack on worship homes. Earlier this month, a suspect set fire to a synagogue in Florida. In August, two children were killed during mass at the Annunciation church in Minneapolis. In July, two women were fatally killed in a Lexington church, Ky.

“Pray for the victims and their families. This epidemic of violence in our country must end, immediately! ” Trump wrote on social networks on Sunday.