Attack on Trump Supporter Shakes Michigan Town

An ATV driver in Michigan allegedly ran over an elderly Trump supporter who was posting political signs in his yard before calling 911 to confess. The caller asked to be picked up by police on Monday, the Guardian reports. When authorities arrived, however, they found a 22-year-old man dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Investigators now say the man was linked to three "politically motivated" cases on Sunday. He initially smashed the windows of a parked vehicle displaying a Trump sticker and damaged the tires of another parked vehicle displaying a sticker in support of law enforcement, police say, per the BBC. He then allegedly ripped up signs an 80-year-old man was trying to place in his yard, per the New York Post.

When the victim tried again to erect the signs, the suspect allegedly struck him from behind with the ATV around 5:45pm. The victim was taken to a hospital in critical condition with serious injuries, including a brain bleed, per WLUC. He remained in the hospital as of Tuesday afternoon, per Newsweek. Hancock Police Chief Tami Sleeman told WLUC it was "possible" he might die. On Monday, the suspect called police to "confess a crime involving an ATV driver," said the Houghton County Sheriff's Office. Authorities responded to a Quincy home but found the caller dead. After obtaining a search warrant, they found the ATV, along with clothing the suspect had been wearing and electronics that were seized, per WLUC.

"The crimes reported in the city of Hancock appeared to be politically motivated, involving victims who displayed Trump election signs as well as ... 'thin blue line' paraphernalia," the sheriff's office said. "Prior to Sunday we have not had any recent politically motivated crimes," Sleeman tells Newsweek. "What this has done to this community is pretty upsetting," she adds, per the Detroit News. "Our concern is the safety of everybody here. Politics should not bring violence." Political violence has been on the rise in the US for a decade, though the attempted assassination of former President Trump has led to bipartisan "calls for cooler rhetoric and heightened security," per Bloomberg. (More Michigan stories.)