DEXTER, Michigan — The small town of Hancock, Michigan, has been rocked by a series of attacks culminating in a hit-and-run on an elderly Donald Trump supporter in a four-wheel drive vehicle.
“The crimes reported in Hancock appear to be politically motivated, with victims displaying President Trump election signs, stickers and flags thanking police, as well as ‘Thin Blue Line’ paraphernalia,” police said.
A 22-year-old man driving an ATV went on a rampage in Hancock on Sunday, destroying two vehicles. Around 5:45 p.m., the man, described as “skinny with what appears to be dreadlocks or long hair,” removed a pro-Trump sign from his front yard. When an 80-year-old man came out to put the sign back in its place, the suspect struck him.
Hancock Police Chief Tami Sleeman said the victim was visiting his brother who lives in town when the attack occurred.
“A four-wheel drive drove by and began yelling foul language at the victim,” Sleeman told The Washington Post. “It’s unclear what exactly was said. As the victim began to place the sign in his yard, the man driving the four-wheel drive pulled it out of the yard. The victim then grabbed the sign and tried to put it back in his yard, when the four-wheel drive came back up and struck the victim.”
“The victim was taken to hospital with serious injuries and remains in critical condition,” police said in a statement.
The following day, after police had searched the town and begun investigating the attack, the gunman confessed to the crime over the phone and asked for someone to come and pick him up, police said. He was found dead at his home, having shot himself.
Sleeman stressed that political disagreements cannot be allowed to escalate into violence in his town.
“You have a right to express your political opinion. You’re allowed to have a sign in your yard. There’s nothing illegal about that,” she said. “In this day and age where everyone has different opinions, we have to respect that. What we absolutely will not tolerate is violence.”
Hancock is a small town of about 4,500 people near the far northern tip of the state. This border town, about as far from Detroit as Nashville, has never seen such politically motivated violence before.
“We’ve never dealt with anything of this magnitude before,” Sleeman said.
While Hancock police deal with “all the issues that everybody else has” when it comes to crime, the chief told The Post that the town is a “safe community.”
Perhaps the most disturbing thing about this case is that the suspect was not considered to be any kind of threat prior to the attack. “Police never had any contact with the suspect,” Sleeman said.
Republican state Rep. Greg Markkanen, a Hancock resident, called the attack unusual for the state’s sparsely populated northern region as he walked up a hill from berry picking to answer questions about the attack from within cellphone range.
“In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, we’ve never heard of anything like this,” he told the Post. “I know it’s common in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. We’ve had the governor’s case and other cases.”
Markkanen was referring to the famous kidnapping plot orchestrated in 2020 against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
At this time, many facts in the case remain unknown. “We trust that local law enforcement and Michigan State Police will thoroughly investigate this individual to see if they have any history or connections,” Markkanen said.
