Amid National Tension, a Man Placing Trump Signs Is Attacked in Michigan
The New York Times
An assailant ran over the 80-year-old man with an all-terrain vehicle, leaving him badly injured, law enforcement officials said, decrying the act of political violence.
An act of political violence in a small Michigan town left an 80-year-old man in critical condition over the weekend, local officials said. His assailant, who called the police to confess, later killed himself.
The attack unfolded on Sunday evening in Hancock, a city in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, when a man ripped out yard signs supporting former President Donald J. Trump. He then used an all-terrain vehicle to run over the 80-year-old who was trying to put the signs back up, the local authorities said.
Chief Tami Sleeman of the Hancock police said the incident was one of three involving the 22-year-old suspect last weekend. He also used a shovel to destroy the windows of a parked truck with a sticker supporting Mr. Trump, the chief said, and vandalized the tires of a parked vehicle that had a sticker supporting law enforcement.
The suspect later left a message with the Police Department saying he wanted to confess to an attack, Chief Sleeman said, but killed himself before officers arrived at his home just outside the city limits on Monday.
The violence, occurring just over a week after an assassination attempt on Mr. Trump, was an alarming and unwelcome intrusion of political toxicity in a place where local officials say people generally get along, despite partisan differences.
“We’re just hoping and praying for a better, more civil discourse, not only in Houghton County, but at the national level; that we can get through this election cycle without any violence,” said the county sheriff, Joshua B. Saaranen, a Republican.
