Getty Followers of QAnon await the arrival of US President Donald Trump for a political rally at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on August 2, 2018.
Igor Lanis killed his wife and wounded his daughter in a shooting at their Michigan home before he was shot dead by police on Sunday, September 11, 2022, in Walled Lake, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
His other daughter took to social media after the incident to reveal he was “obsessed” with QAnon and conspiracy theories and lost touch after former President Donald Trump lost his re-election bid in 2020. Rebecca Lanis said that her father has always dealt with mental health issues but things grew worse recently.
“He had a sense of reality. But then after 2020, when Trump lost, he started going down these crazy rabbit holes,” Rebecca Lanis told The Daily Beast. She added that he was “fascinated” with the QAnon conspiracy theory and believed President Joe Biden stole the election. “It’s a very big contributor to what happened,” she told The Daily Beast.
According to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, Lanis, 53, shot and killed his wife, 56-year-old Tina Lanis, and wounded their 25-year-old daughter, Rachel Lanis, at their Walled Lake home. He also killed the family’s dog. Rebecca Lanis, 21, told The Daily Beast she lives at the home, but was staying with friends over the weekend.
The sheriff’s office said that Lanis’ daughter called 911 after she was shot about 4 a.m. Deputies and officers from the Walled Lake Police Department arrived at the home and Lanis exited with a shotgun and fired at them. The officers and deputies returned fire, killing Lanis, Sheriff Mike Bouchard said.
1. Igor Lanis Shot His Wife in the Back & His Daughter in the Back & Legs as They Tried to Flee From Their Home, the Sheriff’s Office Says
The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release that dispatchers received a 911 call at 4:11 a.m. from a “young woman who stated that she had just been shot by her father.” The sheriff’s office said the caller wasn’t able to provide any other information, including the location of the incident, before the call ended.
“Our dispatch triangulated the area of the call and at approximately 0416 hours officers from Walled Lake Police Department and the sheriff’s office arrived in the area,” the press release said. “They heard a gun shot and began to approach the home. The suspect, later identified as Igor Lanis a 53-year-old male, exited out of the front door of the address, presented a Remington 870 pump action shotgun, and fired on officers. The Walled Lake Police officer as well as an Oakland County Sheriff Deputy returned fire striking the suspect fatally wounding him.”
The home is on Glenwood Drive, the sheriff’s office said. “Officers observed the 911 caller/victim, a 25-year-old female, at the front door of the responsible address attempting to crawl from the home. They dragged her to safety. She stated that her dad shot her and her mother. She was transported to an area hospital and rushed into emergency surgery. She was initially listed in critical condition however after surgery has been upgraded to stable condition.”
According to the sheriff’s office, “A search of the residence revealed a deceased 56-year-old female who was shot multiple times in the back, and it appears that she was also attempting to flee out of the front door. Also, the family dog who was shot multiple times and killed.”
2. Rebecca Lanis Posted About the Shootings on the Reddit ‘QAnon Casualties’ Subreddit & Said Her Parents Had Been ‘Extremely Loving & Happy People’ When She Was Growing Up
RedditRebecca Lanis posted this on Reddit.
In her Reddit post on the “QAnonCasualties” subreddit, titled, “My Qdad snapped and killed my family this morning.,” Rebecca Lanis wrote, “Yep. The internet ruined him. Growing up, my parents were extremely loving and happy people. I always had a special bond with both my parents. In 2020 after Trump lost, my dad started going down the Q rabbit hole. He kept reading conspiracy theories about the stolen election, Trump, vaccines, etc. He always said he wanted to keep us safe and healthy.”
She added, “It kept getting worse and he verbally snapped at us a few times. Nothing physical though. He never got physical with anybody. Well, at around 4 AM on September 11, he had an argument with my mother and he decided to take our guns and shoot her, my dog and my sister. My mother succumbed to her wounds and my sister is in the hospital right now. My dad also fired back at the cops and they killed him.”
She wrote on Reddit, “I’m shocked and I don’t even know what to say. F*** 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.”
In comments on her thread, she explained why she posted about it, writing, “I just want to spread the word about extremism. … I want the media to call out Q because this is all their fault.” She wrote, “I’m with my grandparents, we honestly can’t even believe this actually happened.”
Rebecca Lanis told The Daily Beast it became “pointless” to argue with her father. There have been multiple violent incidents connected to the QAnon conspiracy. In 2021, a California father, Matthew Taylor Coleman, told federal authorities he killed his children after being “enlightened” by QAnon.
In 2019, Buckey Wolfe, a QAnon follower, killed his brother with a sword after he thought he had turned into a lizard, authorities in Seattle said. That same year, Anthony Comello was accused of killing a mob boss in New York and made a court appearance with a QAnon reference on his hand.
3. Igor Lanis’ Daughter Told The Detroit News Her Father Fell Into a ‘Rabbit Hole’ of Conspiracy Theories Around Politics & COVID-19 Vaccines & ‘Nobody Could Talk Him Out of Them’
Rebecca Lanis, who by “dumb luck” was at a friend’s house, talked to The Detroit News the night of the shooting and said her father had fallen down a “rabbit hole” recently. She said he was “always prone” to mental illness, “but it really brought him down when he was reading all those weird things on the internet.”
She said he began following “crazy ideas” around politics and COVID-19, including about Trump and vaccines. Rebecca Lanis told The Daily Beast her father also began following Alex Jones and watching online videos about conspiracy theories.
“Nobody could talk him out of them,” she told the newspaper. … 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 Lanis told Click On Detroit, “He started reading about the stolen election and Trump and then he started getting deeper into it and then when the vaccines came out and COVID, he started reading all that.
She told the news station, “In 2021 I could see him starting to spiral. Then in 2022, he was completely spiraled off the deep end. Every conversation we had he had to bring up vaccines or COVID or 5G or EMFs or something or just anything ridiculous you could think of. If any of you have relatives like this you need to start monitoring them. If they have guns you should hide them or something because these people are dangerous.”
4. Igor Lanis Has Lived in Walled Lake Since 1996 & He Doesn’t Appear to Have a Criminal Record
Igor Lanis and his wife had lived at the home in Walled Lake since 1996. Few other details about his life were immediately available and no social media accounts linked to him or his family could be found by Heavy. He previously lived in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
According to The Detroit News, officials said Lanis does not appear to have a criminal record and was not the subject of any protective orders. Sheriff Mike Bouchard told reporters that Lanis had been “more agitated” over the past year.
On Reddit, Lanis’ daughter wrote, “I guess it was pure dumb luck because I was sleeping over at a friend’s that night. I could’ve also died. I’m so f***** mad at everything.” She wrote, “We were religious. Q turned my dad away from our religion but my sister and mom and I would always pray together. I believe that God has a plan for me and I will not be the next casualty to this actually demonic Q cult.”
Rebecca Lanis said on Reddit, “He would spend all day and night reading stuff on his phone and laptop and would get really pissy over the smallest things. His carefree and fun persona was gone. He started talking about 5g and emfs being bad, and modern medicine being a sham. It’s like he got possessed by a demon.”
In a Reddit comment she said, “I kept getting warning signs from him so I slowly started distancing myself. Sadly, my sister and mother were too loving to believe that he could actually lash out like this. Readers, please don’t be afraid to cut contact and call for some help before it’s too late.”
5. The Sheriff’s Office Says They Will Investigate What Led to the Shootings
The sheriff’s office said in its press release, “Further investigation by the Oakland County Special Investigations Unit in conjunction with the Walled Lake Police Department is ongoing.”
Sheriff Mike Bouchard told Fox 2 Detroit, “This is an unbelievably horrific act. It is so sad on so many levels but due to the response and professionalism of our dispatch, the Walled Lake officers and Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Deputies at least one victim was saved. We will actively pursue information to gain insight into what set this into motion.”
Bouchard said the daughter’s 911 call was “chilling” and said she suffered “super traumatic injuries” to her back and legs. He told reporters at a press conference that a neurologist had been brought in to assess her injuries. Her sister said on Reddit, “She’s in stable condition but there’s a possibility she won’t be able to move her legs again.”
Rebecca Lanis told WXYZ about her father, “He became a different person after 2020 when Trump lost. … Online extremism, QAnon, right-wing extremism. … I think that people need to focus more on radicalization, Qanon. And if they have relatives with guns who are like this, you need to get them help and they need to get checked into a mental institution, even if you think they’re not dangerous.”
Bouchard added, according to The Detroit News, “I think there was danger to anybody. He had his keys with him so who knows where he was headed. …This is terribly sad on so many levels.”