Minnesota Lawmakers Shot in Targeted Attack

June 23rd, 2025

Arnav Goyal

On June 14, 2025, 2 Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses were shot in their homes overnight, with one couple being killed. The incident shook millions, especially those in Minnesota politics, and brought up a new debate on political violence and how to prevent such instances. However, it also revealed a growing trend of people spreading conspiracy theories and online misinformation.

The 2 lawmakers were both senior Democratic members of both the State House and Senate. State Senator John Hoffman, a senator for roughly 12 years, and his spouse were critically injured during the shooting, yet they survived the shooting. However, Democratic Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman and her spouse were assassinated in their home, which sent shockwaves throughout Minnesota politics on both aisles, with Senator Amy Klobuchar, who knew Hortman, sending out a deeply personal tribute statement, and Governor Tim Walz, who got visibly emotional when announcing the assassination of the Hortmans during a press conference.

The suspect, Vance Luther Boelter, arrived at both residences disguised as a police officer, with a police car, and a silicone mask that was described as so realistic, cops tending to the scene thought it was a real police officer. He barged in as a cop, asking both if they had weapons, and soon later, shot them. In the case of the Hortmans, officers tried to stop Boelter from shooting the couple, however, in the end shot the Hortmans, and were pronounced dead soon after the confrontation. Boelter eventually fled the scene, however, was found a few days later, capping one of the most intensive manhunts in Minnesota history.

However, the killings of Hortman and Hoffman were not the only instances where Boelter wanted to kill Minnesota state lawmakers. Boelter actually went to 4 houses of state lawmakers, however, 2 were out on vacation, so seeing that, he could only shoot the 2 lawmakers that were the victims of these shootings. However, it doesn’t stop there. The Minnesota State Patrol found his abandoned getaway car, and found 2 things:

A large amount of papers with No Kings written on it, implying that he would’ve had the intent to go to the No Kings protests and shoot people there
A manifesto with nearly 70 politicians, including Governor Walz, Senators and House Representatives across the region, abortion rights advocates and providers, and many Minnesota state lawmakers.

Eventually, Boelter was found and charged with a vast sleuth of charges, including federal charges on murder, stalking, and firearms offenses, and state charges on second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder, with intent to increase it to first degree murder.

Naturally, due to the incident, security was heightened across the board. The Minnesota State Patrol announced that people should not go to the No Kings protests happening on the same day, due to potential threats from people, and in areas of Minneapolis such as Brooklyn Park, shelter-in-place warnings were issued to ensure that people are safe during such an incident.

This incident also echoed a rise in political violence and misinformation in this modern day and age, with politicians who have been targeted by political violence, including Gabby Giffords, Nancy Pelosi (whose husband was also victim of an attack on her), and Josh Shapiro (whose house was firebombed) condemning the attack, and called for an end to political violence in the United States, due to a stark rise. Politicians across the board, whether Republicans or Democrats, mostly condemned the incident, with the Republican leader of the Minnesota Senate and Republican Speaker of the House heavily condemning the attack.

However, some Republicans also played into conspiracy theories about the attacker. Some claimed that the attacker was actually a Democrat, and that the shooter was a far-left extremist supporting Walz’ agenda, alluding to Hortman’s vote to defund Minnesotan healthcare for migrants. Moreover, Senators such as Mike Lee tweeted posts that were widely condemned, such as saying“Nightmare on Waltz Street,” and calling the man a Marxist, when official records and testimony show that Boelter was a registered Republican in Oklahoma and had Republican-leaning tendencies.

Overall, this incident shines a light on the rise of not just political violence, however, also extremist rhetoric and conspiracy theories. It also shines a light on heightened security within the political sphere, and the need to ensure that political violence doesn’t happen, whether it be gun control, or increased moderation. Yet, conspiracy theories are also prevalent, and that is another problem that must be combatted to ensure that political violence cannot happen.