A Michigan man suspected of using an all-terrain vehicle to run over an elderly man for supporting Donald Trump died by suicide as police closed in on him, according to authorities.
Police in Hancock – a city located in the state’s upper peninsula – said the man in question was under investigation for allegedly running over an 80-year-old man at about 5.45pm local time on Sunday.
The elderly man was described as a supporter of the former president who was posting a political sign in his yard, according to police. Police also said he displayed stickers and flags that were supportive of law enforcement. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition with serious injuries after the man on the ATV struck him, authorities said.
Investigators said they had identified a suspect in the case by Monday evening, and he had been linked to a total of three cases which were apparently “politically motivated”.
That man later contacted officers, told them he wanted to “confess a crime involving an ATV driver within the last 24 hours” and asked to be picked up, police said in a statement. When police arrived at the scene, they found a 22-year-old man dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The events in Hancock came a little more than a week after Trump survived an assassination attempt at a presidential campaign rally in Butler county, Pennsylvania, on 13 July. The gunman at the rally fatally shot a 50-year-old Trump supporter, former fire chief Corey Comperatore, while the former president was wounded on one of his ears.
The assassination attempt prompted bipartisan condemnations of political violence, including from the vice-president, Kamala Harris, who is expected to be the Democratic nominee to face Trump in November’s presidential race after Joe Biden announced on Sunday that he would not pursue another term in the White House.
On 17 July at the Air Zoo Aerospace and Science Museum in Portage, Michigan, which by car is about nine hours away from Hancock, Harris said political violence was unacceptable.
“There must be unity around the idea that while our nation’s history has been scarred by political violence, violence is never acceptable,” Harris said. “There can be no equivocation about that.
“At the same time, the hallmark of American democracy, the hallmark of any democracy is a strong competition of ideas, policies and a vision for the future. And just as we must reject political violence, we must also embrace a robust discussion about what is at stake in this election.”
In an statement posted on Facebook on Tuesday, Hancock police and the nearby Houghton county sheriff’s office issued their own condemnation of “violence against any political candidates”.
• In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
• This article was amended on 23 July 2024. The incident in which the man was run over occurred on Sunday, not Monday as originally written.
