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. One shot narrowly missed a deputy when it went through the windshield of his car. Civilians also had to quickly get off the road to avoid the truck.
Dougherty says they’re not sure yet whether Blessed 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 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 erupt in civil war and be attacked by Russia and China.
Blessed was originally named Sergia Jourev. According to 13-WHAM he changed his name to Joshua Blessed about 2005.