it was a political assassination

[mellowtigger]

This morning, residents of a town not far north of me (about 2 small city borders away in the metro) were ordered to shelter in place and to call 911 to ask if the officer at their door was supposed to be there, before engaging the officer. Why? Because someone with police uniform, gear, and vehicle shot 2 of our lawmakers inside their own homes.

I took some time off from work (I'll have to cut my lunch break short today to make up the time difference) to watch Governer Walz in the press conference on tv this morning. The DFL Representative is dead, and the DFL Senator is alive after surgery. For the non-locals, Minnesota's state Congress is evenly divided. All it takes is losing 1 representative and 1 senator to shift the balance of legislative power in this state. It appears that someone tried to do exactly that. Murdering-the-opposition-party is the logical consequence of letting any party think they can seize power over vacant seats, as happened here earlier this year.

I hope they catch the shooter(s) alive. I hope they live at least long enough to get a pardon from Trump eventually. I expect I-could-shoot-somebody Trump to do it. We live in the bad timeline.

I don't want to work today. I want to leave my job and go join the local No Kings protests. But, I'm poor and old and have to "keep my job". Ugh.

Comments

[armiphlage]

My apologies if I asked before, do you have a current passport?

[mellowtigger]

It has expired. I don't have a REAL ID either, which is required for flying in airplanes these days. I admit that I should, purely as a practical matter of preparation, get both.

And I should clarify that seizing power over empty seats was attempted here but was not successful, thanks to united opposition by the DFL and eventual confirmation of this policy from our state supreme court.

edit: Further clarification, this crime will be tried in state courts, so Trump cannot pardon the perpetrator(s). I jumped to conclusions, which I should avoid. :( Rationality is better.

[endoffme]

omg! it's awful :(

updates here

[mellowtigger]

There is likely to be a lot of local news on this topic. I'll use this reply to capture the edits, rather than frequently modifying the main post.

As noted in another reply, murder charges would be filed at the state (not federal) court level, which Trump cannot pardon. If there are also federal charges for something, then I would still expect Trump to pardon those charges.

This NYT article (paywalled, sorry) notes the divided state congress and the power grab by Republicans early in this session. It does not, however, note that the state Supreme Court eventually ruled that the Republicans acted unconstitutionally.

As of 12:30pm local time, the shooter(s) has not been arrested. The police apparently have a manifesto of some kind, presumably from the vehicle they have in possession, that names the No Kings protests. Local authorities have asked people not to attend the No Kings protests. I'd still go if I were free (but still wear my N95 mask), but that's my own personal risk calculation. This issue is too important to let it slide.

2pm: A suspect is named.
https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/57-year-old-suspect-sought-in-targeted-shootings-of-minnesota-state-lawmakers/

And some local protests continued anyway.
https://www.twincities.com/2025/06/14/no-kings-rally-mn-legislators-shot/

From that article, yet another reason why I keep voting for Keith Ellison when the name appears on my ballot.
"Ellison was the only public official to speak at the rally."

5pm: The news has been non-stop. As I type, the news is constantly showing a house at 49th and Fremont, which is about 25 blocks northeast of me. They say that the accused shooter lived here. When (in the past? currently?) he lived there, I'm not clear about. If there's more than 1 shooter, I'm still not clear about. The shelter-in-place order expired about 2 hours ago. The FBI released 4 photos of the accused man, including one supposedly after the shooting and in the city of Minneapolis, but they haven't explained any more detail for the photo.

[darkoshi]

Damn.