An elderly man who was hit by an all-terrain vehicle driver in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula last weekend in an apparent politically motivated attack has returned home and is recovering, police said, and the identity of a suspect in the attack has also been released.
Last Sunday, a suspect driving an ATV exploded in anger over signs and images supporting police and former President Donald Trump, The Blaze News previously reported. The suspect appeared to damage tire valves, break windows and even rip out mirrors from at least two vehicles bearing Trump and “thin blue line” signs. Stickers Hancock, Michigan is a small city at the base of the Keweenaw Peninsula, a stretch of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula that juts out into Lake Superior.
“We are examining the media devices and hope to find some clues within the devices themselves that might indicate what state of mind he was in.”
In addition to the vandalism, the ATV driver also targeted an 80-year-old Hancock man who had a Trump sign in his front yard. First, the driver ripped up the sign. When the man tried to put it back in place, the ATV driver I chased him from behindHe was reported to have suffered serious injuries, including a brain hemorrhage.
The Hancock Police Department later released an upbeat update on the victim and his condition: According to a police statement, the victim was released from the hospital Wednesday night and “will be recuperating at home.”
Hancock Police Chief Tami Sleeman He called the victim’s recovery “really good news.”
Police in a press release also released the suspect’s name: Joshua Kemppainen, 22, of Quincy Township, just north of Hancock.
On Monday, Hancock police received a call from a person believed to be Kemppainen who said he wanted to confess to a crime involving an ATV driver that had occurred within the past 24 hours and asked police to come pick him up.
“When police and officers arrived at the Quincy residence associated with the caller, they found Kemppainen dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. On his property, they found the ATV believed to have struck the Hancock man, as well as clothing matching that seen on the ATV driver’s security camera. They also seized digital devices that will be sent to the Michigan State Crime Lab in Marquette for forensic analysis.”
“At this time, we have not found any notes or anything of the sort,” Houghton County Sheriff Josh Saaranen said. “We are examining the media devices and hopefully finding something on the devices themselves that might provide insight into the mindset of the perpetrator or the modus operandi.”
According to a police press release, Kemppainen had “no known prior contact with local police.”
In response to the apparently politically motivated attacks, Sheriff Saaranen called for unity. “We don’t always have to agree with each other,” he said.But we need to come together as a community.”
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