A 22-year-old Michigan man, who confessed to running over an 80-year-old man with an ATV in a politically charged attack, was found dead in his home in Quincy Township in the Upper Peninsula.
The Hancock Police Department said a man called Monday and said he would like to “confess a crime involving an ATV driver within the last 24 hours.” He instructed police to pick him up at his residence. By the time they arrived, he was dead from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound police say.
A day before, on Sunday, police suspect the 22-year-old was involved in some politically charged crimes, targeted against houses with signs and displays supporting law enforcement and Donald Trump. In one, the suspect allegedly ran over an 80-year-old man who was putting up a Trump sign in his yard. The 80-year-old remains in the hospital in critical condition.
According to a release from Hancock Police Chief Tami Sleeman, the suspect, who was caught on camera during the spree, intentionally vandalized cars displaying a right-wing political orientation.
“People have the right to express their opinions,” she told the Daily Mining Gazette Tuesday. “There’s no place for this type of violence.”
Hancock police department overloaded
Sleeman told the Free Press she is “disappointed” with the crime and political violence in Hancock. “As a community, we need to be able to accept views,” she said. “Our country shouldn’t be like this.”
The crime stretched the small-town police department thin, Sleeman said. There are only 10 officers including herself on staff. In the wake of the attack, they are running low on manpower, Sleeman said.
Because of the small staff, Sleeman said it took her department approximately two hours to arrive at the suspect’s house on Monday.
In the wake of the politically charged attacks, Hancock police are being supported by the Houghton Police Department and Michigan State Police. In collaboration with the departments, an investigation is ongoing, which will include the scrubbing of the suspect’s electronic devices.
