A Mormon worshipper who rushed into danger when a gunman attacked a church in Michigan last Sunday came under fire, and was left with significant injuries that will keep the self-employed man out of work for months.
Jeff Kubiak’s ankle was “shattered” during the mass shooting at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meeting house in Grand Blanc, 50 miles north of Detroit.
“He is injured,” his wife, Marei Kubiak, told The Independent. “He is self-employed, [and] he is going to be out of work for several months.”
Kubiak, 60, runs a small carpet-cleaning and restoration business in Holly, a small village about 15 miles from Flint. He has already racked up more than $20,000 in medical bills, and expects to struggle making ends meet as he recovers, according to his family.
Police identified Thomas Jacob Sanford, a Marine Corps veteran, as the attacker who crashed his pickup truck into the church on the morning of September 28, then aimed an assault-style rifle at the sanctuary and started shooting.
Kubiak, who was already inside with his wife, rushed to help, his daughter Kathleen said in a newly-created GoFundMe campaign. But, as Kathleen wrote: “In the chaos that followed, he was shot,” sustaining a bullet wound that “shattered his ankle.” His wife escaped with glass shards in her hands and feet, but was not hit by gunfire.
The shooter then set the church building ablaze, reducing the structure to rubble.
When the terrifying rampage was over, four people were dead and eight others injured. The 40-year-old Sanford was fatally shot by police in the church parking lot.
Kubiak has since “endured two surgeries to remove the bullet and leather from his foot and is now facing a long and painful recovery that will involve months of physical therapy,” the fundraiser states.
“Thankfully, both of them are alive – but they are now facing a difficult road ahead, both physically and emotionally,” according to the GoFundMe.
However the fundraising page also says Kubiak’s medical expenses have now surpassed $24,000 after two surgeries in three days: one to remove a bullet and shoe leather embedded in his foot, and a second for a skin graft to help close the wound.
“To make matters more challenging, [Jeff’s work] requires him to be on his feet every day – something he won’t be able to do for the foreseeable future,” the GoFundMe explains. “With their primary source of income abruptly cut off, financial pressure is mounting rapidly.”
The couple, who have five children and 11 grandchildren, also run a small family farm. Their daughter’s appeal says they are “always the first to lend a hand,” and that their home “is one filled with love, animals, and unwavering faith.”
Proceeds from the fundraiser will help cover doctors’ bills, lost income, and therapy during a period that Kathleen foresees being “incredibly difficult.”
“Any donation, big or small, will go directly to helping Jeff and Marei focus on what matters most: healing,” the GoFundMe reads.
In 2015, Sanford raised some $3,000 through a GoFundMe campaign of his own, collecting money to care for his special-needs child with wife Tella.
Authorities say they have not yet pinned down a motive. However, reports have emerged that Sanford – a fan of President Donald Trump who deployed to Iraq in 2007 and was said to have been suffering from PTSD – allegedly held a deep grudge against Mormons. Friends said a past relationship with a Utah woman who was a member of the LDS church had ended badly.
Sanford’s ex was “extremely religious,” friends told The New York Times. She reportedly put pressure on Sanford to join the church, and have his tattoos removed in order to participate in LDS ceremonies.
“He wasn’t so sure that he wanted to become a member of the church,” a former landlord of Sanford’s said. “But he really wanted to be with this woman.”
Sanford also picked up a meth habit in Utah, friends said.
The news of Sanford’s past relationship emerged alongside a disturbing claim by local city council candidate, Kris Johns. He told told journalist Dave Bondy that he had crossed paths with Sanford while campaigning door-to-door last week.
“We just started to talk, and after a short while the conversation went to the Church of Latter-day Saints,” Johns said. “He made the position multiple times that Mormons are the anti-Christ.”
Reached by phone Monday, two of Sanford’s family members said they had no idea what spurred the deadly attack.
“At this point, I don’t know nothing,” Jeffrey Sanford, 57, told The Independent. “I guess I’ll leave it at that. It’s very tragic for everybody, all the families. Including ours.”
Jim Sanford Jr. said simply: “Our thoughts are with the victims and their families. We’re going to let the police do their due diligence and we’re just asking for privacy right now.”
In a brief interview with the Detroit Free Press, Sanford’s father, Thomas, said he felt “terrible about all the families that have been hurt and they’re under the same crap that I’m going under, that my wife and I are going under. I apologize for that.”
He said he was glad that his son “came back in one piece” from his hitch with the Marines, working in logistics, which spanned from 2004 to 2008.
“He was a good man,” Thomas Sanford told the outlet. “He was a family man… The only thing I can say is that it was my son that did it. As far as why? Irrelevant. It happened. We’re dealing with it. It’s been a nightmare.”
As the community now picks up the pieces, one area firearms instructor is offering free pistol lessons to any church leader or usher who gets permission from higher-ups to be armed at the pulpit.
Since it was created on Tuesday morning, the GoFundMe for Jeff and Marei Kubiak has raised a little more than $5,100, or about 43 percent of its $12,000 goal.
“Thank you for your love, support, and prayers,” Kathleen Kubiak Payton wrote. “It means more than you know.”
