An Assassination in Minnesota

June 14, which is Flag Day and marks the birth of our Army, was a day of tragedy here in Minnesota with the assassination of Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark. A gunman entered their home in the early morning hours and shot both of them, resulting in their deaths. The attacker had previously entered the home of State Senator John Hoffman and his wife and daughter and shot Hoffman and his wife. At this writing both are expected to survive.

The gunman posed as a police officer, dressing up in tactical gear and driving a vehicle that could be mistaken as a police vehicle at first glance. Here is a brief overview:

The June 14 Minnesota attacks

The suspect has expressed anti-abortion views in the past and the list of people found in his vehicle included not just Democratic legislators, but abortion rights supporters. A possible motive for his actions. One thing someone pointed out to me and that is interesting, is the time lag between when police found the Hoffmans at 2am and when they encountered the suspect at the Hortman home at around 3:30am. What was he doing for an hour and a half? The distance between the two homes wasn’t very far at all, certainly it would not take that long to travel.

This day was, as you know, the day for the No King’s protests around the country. While I had heard about the shelter in place order for Champlin and Brooklyn Park, I had no idea at the time what was actually transpiring. I did find it a little odd that I heard about it on CNN while having breakfast. Usually fly over country doesn’t really rate national attention. However, it was revealed that the targets of the shooting were state legislators. I had a few errands to run before the protest that I was attending was supposed to start, so I never thought to check my email, and only found out when I arrived a few minutes before the scheduled start of the protest that it had been canceled due to safety concerns. But there were people there and the person who told me about the cancellation said that they were still going. I never considered not going. I had anticipated this protest for too long. As I walked over to the rally point I saw others carrying signs and joining the group. I do not know how many came, or how many chose to stay away, but the crowd seemed to grow as time went by. While I can’t say how many there were, it was a decent size. And, like the other protest I attended, the cars drove by, honking in support or giving us the finger. I didn’t seem to see as many obvious Trumpers in big pick ups as before. There were some clever signs marking the No Kings event and signs for Melissa and Mark. There was, perhaps, a more somber mood than the earlier protest. But the people there, I think, were determined not to let fear rule them. We all seemed to feel that we needed to be there. This was bigger than a single tragedy. And, I suspect, those who died that day would have wanted us to continue on in our fight for our country’s future. From what I have heard there were still many protests around my state, including at the Capitol, where an estimated 25,000 showed up.

Here is one that was actually set to music. I loved the song.

You see, this is our country and we are taking it back.

As of now, the search continues for Melissa and Mark's killer. We will find him.

Update:  The suspect in the attacks on our legislators and their spouses, Vance Boelter, was arrested the night of June 15th.  Kudos to the great job done by our law enforcement.