A Michigan man, who had reportedly been sucked into QAnon and 2020 election conspiracies, was killed by police after shooting and killing his wife over the weekend.
According to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, at around 4 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 11, police responded to a call from a young woman in Walled Lake, Michigan, who said she’d been shot by her father. When police arrived, they heard gunshots and soon confronted Igor Lanis, 53, who allegedly came out of his house with a shotgun and began firing. Police reportedly fired back and killed Lanis (no officers were harmed).
Inside, police found Lanis’ wife, Tina, 56, dead from multiple gunshot wounds to the back. Police also found one of Lanis’ daughters, Rachel, trying to crawl from the home after being shot in the back and legs. Rachel told the police that her dad had shot her and her mother. Rachel was then taken to a hospital and is now in stable condition following emergency surgery. The Lanis family dog was also shot multiple times and killed.
Though authorities have yet to identify Lanis’ wife and daughter, his other daughter, Rebecca, confirmed their names to The Detroit News. Rebecca (who was at a friend’s house when the shooting occurred) said her father had always been “prone” to mental health issues, but he’d grown “more agitated” as he fell into internet conspiracy theories involving QAnon, vaccines, and the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.
“[N]obody could talk him out of them,” Rebecca said, adding, “It’s really so shocking, but it really can happen to anybody. Right-wing extremism is not funny, and people need to watch their relatives, and if they have guns, they need to hide them or report them or something because this is out of control.”
Rebecca also shared her story on the QAnon Casualties subreddit. She said that, as her father became more engrossed by these conspiracies, he told his family he wanted to keep them “safe and healthy.” Though Rebecca said her father “verbally snapped” at the family a few times, it didn’t become physically violent until an early morning fight with Tina that preceded the shooting.
“I’m shocked and I don’t even know what to say,” Rebecca wrote. “Fuck you, Qanon. I hope the FBI tightens its grip on you and that your lackies rot in prison (and hell) for poisoning so many people.”