A former American River College student was arrested for attacking a woman and her dog with a medieval morningstar-styled mace near Auburn Blvd. and Garfield Ave. on Monday morning.

The suspect, Travis Lanning, posted images of the mace on Facebook two weeks prior to the attack.

“I’d just walk around with it all day everyday if I could,” Lanning posted with one of the photos. He also called the weapon “unmerciful and vicious.”

Posts on the public account also pointed to Lanning apparently leaving ARC in 2014, calling it “bullshit.” Lanning says in the same post that he first started attending ARC as a 17-year-old. Other posts alluded to membership to Phi Theta Kappa, and obtaining a degree from ARC in computer sciences.

Public information officer for ARC Scott Crow confirmed that Lanning is a former student who had a listed major in Computer Information Sciences, and is no longer enrolled.

No Phi Theta Kappa members that were contacted remembered Lanning, and club president Xavi Aquino said that many people sign up without ever attending a meeting.

Lanning’s last posts on his Facebook all seemed to be centered around death and dying.

On March 20, he posted a link to a reading of a letter written by Sullivan Ballou, a lawyer and politician for the Union during the American Civil War. Ballou was writing to his wife with the belief that he would die soon after writing.

Two days prior to that, he posted a status wondering what would happen to a user’s account if they died.

“How do you lock Facebook up for good like if you had died, and just wanna lock it in to be never touched again, without their Admins changing anything? They don’t offer that..,” the post read.

And on March 10, Lanning posted half a dozen photos of himself with what is likely the morningstar-styled mace that he attacked his victim and her dog with. He is smiling in most of the photos.

Photos from News 10’s reports show that the head of the mace had become detached from the handle, possibly from the severity of the attack.

Going farther back, it appears Lanning’s mother died on February 11 this year. Lanning refers to her as the “only person that was always there for me” in his post memorializing her, along with which he posted many photos of her.

According to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department website, Lanning’s first court appearance will be on Wednesday.

The Current will continue to update this story.