The former Marine accused of killing four people in a fiery attack on a Michigan church held a deep grudge against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to two lifelong friends and other people who knew him.

The animosity, the friends said, stemmed from a breakup with a religious girlfriend over a decade ago and led the man to rant about the church at his best friend’s wedding, refer to it as the Antichrist and, just days before the attack, spew invective against Mormons to a canvassing politician.

The attacker, identified by authorities as Thomas Jacob Sanford, crashed a four-door pickup truck displaying two American flags into the church building in Grand Blanc Township near Flint, Michigan, during a worship service Sunday morning and then opened fire with an assau

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