Truck Driver Killed in Rampage Identified

Livingston County Sheriff Tom Dougherty says it's a miracle nobody was hurt or killed other than the truck driver who led a rampage Wednesday night through Genesee and Livingston Counties.

The driver, now identified as 58-year-old Joshua Blessed of Harrisonburg, Virginia, died in Geneseo when Livingston County Deputies fired on his truck.

Before Blessed was killed he rammed two patrol cars, tried to ram numerous others, and repeatedly exchanged gunfire with deputies in both counties. Dougherty says they're not sure yet whether he died in the barrage of police gunfire that hit his truck in Geneseo, or shot himself. A handgun was recovered from the truck.

Investigators are going through his social media accounts and backtracking the last 24 hours of his life looking for clues to what happened. Sheriff Dougherty says they did locate anti-police posts on his social media.

A search of suspect Joshua Blessed's social media posts show some disturbing results. They speak of his belief that the world was in its last days, and that America would soon founder in civil war and attacks from Russia and China.

Blessed was twice blocked from Facebook because of posts he made -- and according to 13 WHAM, was also blocked from a New York militia social media site because the owners found his anti-globalism message "destructive."

Blessed at times dressed as a police officer and at times as a spiritual leader in his posts. Blessed was originally named Sergia Jourev. He changed his name to Joshua Blessed about 2005. He was married and had two children, but appears to have been estranged from them.


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