Two Minnesota Lawmakers Shot

[Tigers!]

Why do you Yanks hate each other so much?

There are two main reasons, in my view, for the growing division among Americans.

First, the role of algorithms in social media and online news feeds has been deeply corrosive. These systems are designed to show users more of what they already engage with, which often leads to increasingly polarized content. Traditional news outlets had already been capturing this divide in niche markets, creating ideologically targeted programming—liberal vs. conservative. As a result, this previous division has become magnified.

Yes does seem to be a huge problem. The lack of willingness to engage with or even acknowledge the "others"

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Why do you Yanks hate each other so much?

Keep on telling you, but you don't fucking listen.

 

[southernhybrid]

Back on topic....I read an interesting article this morning which I will gift. it describes the suspect in detail. it's almost like a Law and Order story. Pleas read it if you would like to know more about this weird ass man.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/14/...e_code=1.PE8.NQno.TENVD7VwpOsI&smid=url-share

The man suspected of shooting two Democratic state lawmakers in Minnesota early on Saturday had served on a state board with one of the victims, records show.

The suspect identified by the authorities, Vance Boelter, 57, was appointed several times by Minnesota governors to the Workforce Development Board, where he served with State Senator John A. Hoffman, who was shot and survived.

Mr. Boelter and Senator Hoffman attended a virtual meeting together in 2022 for a discussion about the job market in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, minutes from the meeting show.

Drew Evans, the superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said investigators did not yet know how well the two knew each other, if at all.

Are we surprised that he was very religious and very anti abortion. He was even an ordained minister who gave some speeches the were anti LBGTQ. He preached in Africa at times, hoping to bring salvation to the people there. A lot of this information is in the linked article. His friends say he wasn't political, but he did vote for Trump, no surprise. He was married and has 5 kids. Humans are such strange animals.

U.S. Senator Tina Smith, Democrat of Minnesota, said in an interview that the gunman had a list that included her name and the names of other lawmakers, all of whom were Democrats. The list included about 70 potential targets, a federal law enforcement official said, including doctors, community and business leaders, and locations for Planned Parenthood and other health care centers. Some of the targets were in neighboring states.

Mr. Boelter and his wife run a private security company in Minnesota, according to its website. The company, Praetorian Guard Security Services, lists Mr. Boelter as the director of security patrols and his wife as the president. The firm’s website describes using Ford Explorer S.U.V.s, “the same make and model of vehicles that many police departments use.”

On Saturday afternoon, the police towed a Ford Explorer from outside Representative Hortman’s home.

The firm says it offers only armed security. “If you are looking for unarmed guards, please work with another service to meet your needs better,” the website says.

A person who says he's been friends with him since the 4th grade rented him a room. He said he received a text from him the day before the murders that said he might be dead soon. The man said the suspect was suffering from financial and mental health issues. Yeah, he does sound very crazy. What makes someone so hateful that they are willing to murder people who they disagree with politically?

 

[ZiprHead]

It’s starting.

What is starting and when? Did it start when there was an attempt on presidential candidate Trump’s life? Or when a congressional baseball practice was the subject of a mass shooting? What is starting exactly?

Calm down, Trump only cut his ear.

Perfectly calm fella. But it doesn’t matter if the shooter clipped Trump’s ear or missed by a foot, it was still an attempt on Trump’s life. And let’s not forget, an innocent bystander did die. But I guess this falls within the “mostly peaceful” narrative that is so prevalent these days.

Crooks was Republican and not peaceful.

So was the guy caught creating a sniper hide by a Trump golf course. So was the Pelosi's attacker. So was the guy with the van with Trump stickers all over it who was sending mail bombs. The people who tried to run the Harris bus off the road were Republicans.

Seems like a pattern is developing here.

 

[Elixir]

doesn’t matter if the shooter clipped Trump’s ear or missed by a foot, it was still a STAGED attempt on Trump’s life.

FIFY.

 

[southernhybrid]

doesn’t matter if the shooter clipped Trump’s ear or missed by a foot, it was still a STAGED attempt on Trump’s life.

FIFY.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politi...-related-to-the-attempted-trump-assassination

I hope you weren't being serious because the claims that this was staged are conspiracy theories pushed by some on the Left. Let's not be as stupid as those on the Right who believe all the nutty conspiracy theories that the MAGAs claims are true.

Social media platforms flooded with ‘staged’ claims​

Conspiracy theories that the assassination attempt on Trump was staged flooded the internet almost immediately after the shooting suspect opened fire.

“Donald Trump continues to play in our faces!! This was SO staged!!! If someone REALLY wanted to take him out, they wouldn’t use a BB Gun!!” one person posted on X a little more than an hour after the shooting.

Some social media users even falsely claimed that Trump faked the blood coming from his ear with a “blood pill.”

The “staged” claims are Pants on Fire. The FBI is investigating the shooting as an assassination attempt. It was witnessed by thousands of rally attendees, including dozens of news photographers and reporters.

WATCH: How Trump’s assassination attempt compares to the attempt on Reagan in 1981

Secret Service personnel shot and killed Crooks, the suspected shooter, shortly after he opened fire, the agency said. Law enforcement officials recovered an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle from a nearby building’s roof, according to The New York Times.

Law enforcement officials continued to investigate a potential motive the day after the shooting.

The shooter, the U.S. Secret Service said, fired multiple rounds from an “elevated position outside of the rally venue”; social media photos showed a body on a roof. Trump had blood trickling down his face as agents rushed him offstage, the agency said. Trump later said on Truth Social that the bullet hit the upper part of his right ear.

 

[laughing dog]

I hope this whackjob is captured so the entire narrative is filled in. IMO, people like him typically don't need others to prompt his actions.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Minnesota gunman's wife pulled over as cops make chilling discovery

Jenny Boelter, the wife of suspected gunman Vance Boelter, was pulled over on Saturday morning as cops made a chilling discovery inside her vehicle.

www.dailymail.co.uk

She was found with a weapon, ammunition, cash and passports about 75 miles from where the shootings took place in Brooklyn Park and Champlin, Minnesota, eight hours earlier.

 

[Shadowy Man]

Americans are also uniquely easy marks, due to their belief in the rugged individual, beholden to nobody. Citizens of other OECD countries see appeals to individualism, libertarianism, and Randian objectivism as the bizarre clown show that they are, while many Americans swallow that concept of their isolation from (and elevation above) society without question or hesitation.

I think the British proved to be easy marks too with the whole Brexit debacle, no? And there are plenty of other countries that have elected authoritarian leadership and already fallen to fascistic rule.

 

[bilby]

Minnesota gunman's wife pulled over as cops make chilling discovery

Jenny Boelter, the wife of suspected gunman Vance Boelter, was pulled over on Saturday morning as cops made a chilling discovery inside her vehicle.

www.dailymail.co.uk

She was found with a weapon, ammunition, cash and passports about 75 miles from where the shootings took place in Brooklyn Park and Champlin, Minnesota, eight hours earlier.

If I were fleeing, I would hope to average at least 10mph.

 

[bilby]

Americans are also uniquely easy marks, due to their belief in the rugged individual, beholden to nobody. Citizens of other OECD countries see appeals to individualism, libertarianism, and Randian objectivism as the bizarre clown show that they are, while many Americans swallow that concept of their isolation from (and elevation above) society without question or hesitation.

I think the British proved to be easy marks too with the whole Brexit debacle, no? And there are plenty of other countries that have elected authoritarian leadership and already fallen to fascistic rule.

For sure; But Americans fall for it over and over and over again. There are dumb people all over, but America has a lot of people who are not only proud to be dumb, but also religiously devoted to ensuring that future generations are also dumb. And America has a far more pervasive and far more polarised social media landscape. The big social networks are all US based, and US owned.

 

[southernhybrid]

I hope this whackjob is captured so the entire narrative is filled in. IMO, people like him typically don't need others to prompt his actions.

What I find extremely weird about this guy is that other than his fanatical Christian beliefs, he seemed to have a fairly normal life, a happy marriage with 5 kids, worked in government etc. What made him go so berserk? Was it his religious beliefs? Was it the politics of our day? Did he have an under lying mental illness? This is stranger than fiction imo, which is why I compared the whole thing to an episode of "Law and Order", as a lot of the show's plots are very weird. Hopefully, like the series, he will be of found soon and if still alive, prosecuted successfully.

 

[southernhybrid]

• “Growing up in high school he was like every other teenager,” Carlson, who was also Boelter’s roommate, told reporters. “And I went to [the] Army — I was in the Army Reserve. I went to basic [training], and I came back and found out he became a born-again Christian. And he changed his life. He just changed everything in his life, one hundred percent.”
  Boelter’s changes included preaching in parks and living out of a tent, Carlson added.
  Carlson laughed about the situation. Asked why he was laughing, he said, “It’s not normal, I guess. Because people were saying, ‘Yeah, Vance is in the park preaching.’ He was just trying to spread the word about Jesus.”
  He said Boelter, now 57, remained religious.
  “Vance was a very caring, loving person,” he said. “He’d help anybody. And he had a lot of friends that looked up to him. He was a spiritual person.”
  
  

I Just copied the above from an article in WaPo that I could find a link to share, but it does sound as if religion made the guy nuts. The above is a quote from his close friend who knew him since childhood. I guess you could call him one of those crazy street preachers. So, he went from loving person who would help anyone to murderer who would kill most anyone who had political views he didn't like. Damn, this is getting nuttier by the hour.

 

[TomC]

I hope this whackjob is captured so the entire narrative is filled in. IMO, people like him typically don't need others to prompt his actions.

What I find extremely weird about this guy is that other than his fanatical Christian beliefs, he seemed to have a fairly normal life, a happy marriage with 5 kids, worked in government etc. What made him go so berserk? Was it his religious beliefs? Was it the politics of our day? Did he have an under lying mental illness? This is stranger than fiction imo, which is why I compared the whole thing to an episode of "Law and Order", as a lot of the show's plots are very weird. Hopefully, like the series, he will be of found soon and if still alive, prosecuted successfully.

WELCOME TO AMERICA!

Better than any TV shows because this is real life, we don't need TV dramas anymore.
Tom

PS ~Welcome to central Indiana. It's doesn't get better here.`

 

[blastula]

• “Growing up in high school he was like every other teenager,” Carlson, who was also Boelter’s roommate, told reporters. “And I went to [the] Army — I was in the Army Reserve. I went to basic [training], and I came back and found out he became a born-again Christian. And he changed his life. He just changed everything in his life, one hundred percent.”
  Boelter’s changes included preaching in parks and living out of a tent, Carlson added.
  Carlson laughed about the situation. Asked why he was laughing, he said, “It’s not normal, I guess. Because people were saying, ‘Yeah, Vance is in the park preaching.’ He was just trying to spread the word about Jesus.”
  He said Boelter, now 57, remained religious.
  “Vance was a very caring, loving person,” he said. “He’d help anybody. And he had a lot of friends that looked up to him. He was a spiritual person.”

Now it makes sense. Remember when Jesus posed as a centurion, and ambushed Caiaphas and ran him through with a sword.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

• “Growing up in high school he was like every other teenager,” Carlson, who was also Boelter’s roommate, told reporters. “And I went to [the] Army — I was in the Army Reserve. I went to basic [training], and I came back and found out he became a born-again Christian. And he changed his life. He just changed everything in his life, one hundred percent.”
  Boelter’s changes included preaching in parks and living out of a tent, Carlson added.
  Carlson laughed about the situation. Asked why he was laughing, he said, “It’s not normal, I guess. Because people were saying, ‘Yeah, Vance is in the park preaching.’ He was just trying to spread the word about Jesus.”
  He said Boelter, now 57, remained religious.
  “Vance was a very caring, loving person,” he said. “He’d help anybody. And he had a lot of friends that looked up to him. He was a spiritual person.”
  
  

I Just copied the above from an article in WaPo that I could find a link to share, but it does sound as if religion made the guy nuts. The above is a quote from his close friend who knew him since childhood. I guess you could call him one of those crazy street preachers. So, he went from loving person who would help anyone to murderer who would kill most anyone who had political views he didn't like. Damn, this is getting nuttier by the hour.

To be open....

I don't trust much of the information because (1) I don't trust Boelter and (2) I don't trust the witnesses. Here's why...

(1) He has WAY too many unverifiable claims in his bio. He seems WAY more like a grifter than anything else. Alleges to have a doctorate in Education, but in what, teaching theology? From a degree mill? Alleges he went to Gaza to convert Islamists without so much as being held captive? You can see a video of him dancing in front of Africans in Congo as part of his evangelical preaching, and I think he was expecting them to get up and roll around, but they didn't. What the heck was that? Alleges he was "ordained," but what does that really mean? He started his own church called Revoformation Ministries with his wife and so is SHE the one who ordained him? That seems pretty trivial either way. He's started many businesses, but the actual measurable work isn't apparent just claimed at a high-level and finally he got on some board with the MN government, probably because Democrats wanted to have a good public perception of being bi-partisan with respect to Christian religion charitable stuff. I'm sure he had a salary from that. The rest of his resume involves being a manager at a high level, which means other people do the grunt work, and there's WAY too much he claims to have done simultaneously over multiple careers.

(2) So first, his wife was caught with a passport, gun, and money, and so I think she was going to meet him. Then, his roommate....uh, why does he have roommates when he's married? Sounds like a den of something going on: terrorist cell or cheating den? Anyway, the roommate has text messages from him from the day before saying he was doing something drastic and might end up dead. The way it was explained was very serious and life-threatening. So, why didn't the roommate contact the police ___before___ this happened? Sounds suspicious to me.

Based on social media, it appears he was familiar with and interacting with a pro-life extremist organization. So, would these close people to him be aware of that? Yes. Or. No. Let's think about the No option. I find it hard to believe because with his roommate not contacting the police, it seems like he is covering for him. And with his wife running around with money and a passport, it seems like she is set to meet him somewhere. Not to mention she'd also be deep in cover for these shell companies she also took part in.

So I don't trust any of it based on any of their testimony until the police investigate, until they have the electronic device info and until the wife comes clean with why she had the passport and money... it seems more likely at the moment anyway that they knew about his extremism last couple of years.

 

[laughing dog]

According to his housemate, he stayed at the house a couple of nights a week because it was close to his work.

In the Hoffman shootings, the mother Yvette Hoffman, jumped on the back of her daughter in order to protect her. Both the husband and wife are out of surgery, but no other news on their condition. The daughter has no physical injuries from the shooting.

 

[southernhybrid]

Well, I do believe a lot of the things that have been said about the shooter because various news sources have researched them. Here's another one. Some of the other news articles do sound as if his wife was involved or at least was trying to prevent him from being found, again, that is very similar to a plot I saw recently on Season 11 of Law and Order. So, it's as if fiction has become the new reality. Sadly, the guy is still on the loose.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/14/us/minnesota-shootings-manhunt-vance-boelter-invs

The man sought by authorities for allegedly shooting Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota on Saturday while impersonating a police officer worked for a security company that advertised a fleet of “police type vehicles,” and other equipment that could potentially have aided him in appearing to be law enforcement.

Vance Boelter was also an outspoken evangelical Christian who traveled to Africa to tell his faith story and, in at least one sermon, pointedly questioned American morals on sexual orientation, according to videos and social media posts reviewed by CNN.

Boelter was a conservative who was strongly against abortion rights, a longtime friend told CNN on Saturday. But Boelter never mentioned any particular anger with the lawmakers who were shot, said David Carlson.


“It wasn’t the thing that defined him,” he said of his religious and political beliefs.

Carlson added, “He wasn’t a hateful person. But he needed help.”

The lists
CNN obtained, are largely Democrats or figures with ties to Planned Parenthood or the abortion rights movement. The list included prominent lawmakers like Rep. Ilhan Omar and Sen. Tina Smith as well as Planned Parenthood leaders. Police said Boelter also had fliers for anti-Trump protests in his car, raising fears that he may also have intended to target those rallies.

Boelter largely shied away from political posts in his publicly available social media feeds and did not discuss abortion rights in any religious speeches reviewed by CNN. In one talk he gave in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2023, he appeared sharply critical of LGBTQ rights.

“There’s people especially in America, they don’t know what sex they are, they don’t know their sexual orientation, they’re confused. The enemy has gotten so far into their mind and their soul,” he said in a sermon at a Pentecostal church in the eastern DRC.

Carlson said Boelter was recently having financial problems, possibly due to his regular travels to Africa. The security firm had failed to find traction, Carlson said, leaving Boelter scrambling to find work, including at a funeral home.

“Problem is, he quit all his jobs to go down there,” he said. “And then he comes back and tries to find new jobs. Wasn’t working out that good.”

 

[Elixir]

How would one go about profiling this guy to predict (post-dict) his actions after his killing spree?

Boelter’s wife and three relatives were detained for questioning following a traffic stop near Onamia, Minnesota, late Saturday morning, but Boelter himself was not found with them
The vehicle stopped contained a weapon, ammunition, cash, and passports, but no arrests have been made related to Boelter’s immediate whereabouts

Sounds really difficult. Passports?
The range of flight patterns that might have been available to him would seem immense; people who know how to navigate in the third world can easily disappear. He could be anywhere, depending on how much premeditation went into it.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

So, like I wrote before, shell company...not trustworthy...

Food worker with 'fantasy' of security career sought in Minnesota political shootings

...
NPR found little evidence to support Boelter's account. He appears to have worked most of his career in the food service industry and one long-time friend described parts of Boelter's narrative about his life as "fantasy."

...

On the website for a company called Praetorian Guard Security Services, LLC, Boelter described himself as part of the "leadership team."

NPR found no record of the firm having clients or providing any services. A call to the company's phone number connected to what appears to be a private phone line, not a business. The address listed in incorporation papers appeared to be that of a law firm specializing in divorce litigation.

Boelter himself appears to have no history working in law enforcement, the military or private security.

There were a lot of red flags about this, some that I mentioned earlier.