A growing number of lawmakers have confirmed that their names were on a hit list compiled by Vance Boelter, the suspect charged in the deadly shooting on Saturday of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband, which also injured a second state lawmaker and his wife.
Before police arrested Boelter on Sunday, they discovered his abandoned vehicle, where authorities found several notebooks filled with the names of dozens of alleged additional targets, including Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), in addition to “No Kings” flyers apparently in reference to a series of anti-Trump protests held on the same day as the shooting.
Democrats dominated those named on the lists made by Boelter, with a host of federal lawmakers and Minnesota state officials attracting his notice, according to unsealed federal affidavits, which noted the documents found in the suspect’s SUV contained lists of internet-based search engines to query people’s addresses.
After the shooting, social media exploded with speculation about the shooter’s alleged political ideology. While some pointed out that he was appointed to positions by two Democratic governors, including Walz, for whom his wife also previously interned, Boetler’s roommate has suggested that he is a conservative and would be offended that some were claiming he’s a Democrat. Voting records and party affiliation are not public information in Minnesota.
Both Minnesota senators, Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tina Smith (D-MN), were reportedly additional targets of the suspected assassin, who also named Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) in his manifesto, according to Axios.
Other federal politicians named as possible targets in Boelter’s lists include Reps. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Shri Thanedar (D-MI), Hillary Scholten (D-MI), Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Veronica Escobar (D-TX), Angie Craig (D-MN), Kelly Morrison (D-MN), Joaquin Castro (D-TX), and Gwen Moore (D-WI). Several Minnesota state lawmakers were also on the list, including Democratic Reps. Esther Agbaje, Alex Falconer, and Democratic state Sen. Ann Rest, according to Spectrum Local News.
Boelter is accused of impersonating a police officer during an attack on Minnesota lawmakers. Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, and her husband were killed during the shootings in Brooklyn Park on Saturday, while Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife are recovering from surgery and in stable condition after suffering severe injuries during a shooting at their Champlin home.
On Sunday, authorities arrested Boelter near his farm in Green Isle, Minnesota, after a nearly two-day manhunt for the murder suspect. The “largest manhunt in state history” required the aid of multiple response teams and a state patrol helicopter.
Boelter’s arrest came hours after roughly a dozen law enforcement squads briefly detained his wife during a traffic stop near Onamia, where authorities questioned and then released her.
U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson announced charges against Boelter on Monday. The suspect was charged with six federal crimes in addition to state charges, although the prosecutor said it was “too early” to tell if Boelter would receive the death penalty.
“Political assassinations are rare,” Thompson said in a news conference. “They strike at the very core of our democracy. But the details of Boelter’s crime are even worse. They are truly chilling. It is no exaggeration to say that his crimes are the stuff of nightmares. Boelter stalked his victims like prey. He went to their homes as a police officer and shot them in cold blood.”
In remarks to the Washington Examiner responding to the charges, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson promised that the Trump administration, led by Attorney General Bondi, “will hold the perpetrator of this crime accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
“The entire country is mourning with Minnesota over this senseless tragedy,” she said.
Lawmakers across the country have expressed fear for their own lives and called for enhanced security measures in the wake of what Minnesota’s governor described as a “politically motivated assassination.”
The Senate is holding a classified briefing for all members on Tuesday morning at the urgent request of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Many lawmakers want to lock down their personal information, such as home addresses, and are seeking to expand security details for rank-and-file members, a safety feature that is typically reserved for top congressional leaders.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is also holding a security briefing for Democrats in the lower chamber on Tuesday afternoon, while House GOP leadership held its emergency call on Saturday in response to the Minnesota shootings.
“The level of threat that lawmakers are exposed to is just unacceptable, and … we have to find a way of ratcheting down this intensity,” Smith, the Minnesota senator named on Boelter’s target list, said on Sunday. “We are at a tipping point right now, when we see these kinds of personal threats, it gets worse, not better.”
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While there has been an outpouring of support directed toward Minnesota, some have been criticized for their responses to the violence, including Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT). Smith directly confronted the Utah senator over several controversial social media posts he made responding to the Minnesota murders, revealing later that she told Lee they were “brutal and cruel.”
“He should think about the implications of what he’s saying and doing,” she said. “It just further fuels this hatred and misinformation.”