A 22-year-old guy called authorities to claim he was involved in the Sunday accident in which an 80-year-old man in Michigan was struck by an ATV while hanging a Trump banner in his yard. The man later committed suicide, according to investigators.
Following past vandalism instances that seemed to target anyone who expressed support for former President Donald Trump or law enforcement, an ATV driver in Hancock drove over the elderly man about 5:45 p.m., according to local authorities.
The Houghton County Sheriff’s Office released a statement on Monday stating that a 22-year-old male had called Hancock police and wanted to “confess a crime involving an ATV driver within the last 24 hours.”
According to the sheriff’s office, the guy called for help and then went to his Quincy Township house, where he was found dead from a gunshot wound he had self-inflicted.
The office claimed that items of clothes the suspect had been identified as wearing and the ATV, or all-terrain vehicle, which was thought to have been involved in the collision, were discovered.
The 22-year-old male was unidentified by the authorities. Hancock police reported that the person hit by the ATV was in critical condition.
The type of political sign the victim was hanging when he was struck was not disclosed in statements from the sheriff’s office or the police department.
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However, Hancock police reported that three incidents—two of which involved vandalism to vehicles—were thought to be related, perpetrated by an individual in an ATV, and that the perpetrators appeared to be targeting people who supported Trump or law enforcement.
According to the sheriff’s office, the victims had flags and “thin blue line” stickers, along with signs supporting Trump. The Hancock Police Department was still looking into the matter, according to the sheriff’s office.
Hancock is a little community in the Upper Peninsula of northwest Michigan, home to about 5,000 people.
