(NewsNation) — Eyewitness accounts are beginning to emerge after police said four people were killed and eight others injured in a shooting and fire at a church in Michigan on Sunday.
Paul Kirby, who was in the church when the shooting began, described to the New York Times that he heard what sounded like an explosion. He also told the outlet that when he went to get help, he observed a man just yards away from him getting out of his truck and starting to shoot.
“The scaredest I’ve ever been,” Kirby said.
Police said the shooter, a 40-year-old man, drove his vehicle into the front of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, about 50 miles north of Detroit, before opening fire on churchgoers. The shooter was killed after a shootout with law enforcement, authorities said.
Phillip Cotter, a member of the Grand Blanc LDS Church, told the Detroit Free Press he knew everyone who was inside the church. Cotter was not in attendance for Sunday morning’s service.
“Evil is alive, it’s active,” said Cotter. “People are too casual to throw out terms that inflame others, weak minds.”
Tony Deck, a Grand Blanc, Michigan native, acknowledged he was on his backyard patio when he heard sirens going off from a street less than 350 yards from the church. Deck added the church was completely destroyed.
At some point during the shooting, a fire broke out, which the shooter is believed to have set. That fire has since been extinguished.