Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin was named among the Democratic politicians included on a list found in the vehicle of the man accused of a politically-motivated attack on two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses on Saturday.
Law enforcement notified Baldwin on Monday that shooting suspect Vance Boelter, 57, referenced her in his writings. Boelter was apprehended on Sunday after a statewide manhunt and charged with killing Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, as well as injuring state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife in a shooting hours earlier.
“Senator Baldwin was informed by law enforcement that she was included on the alleged shooter’s list of names,” Baldwin spokesperson Eli Rosen said in a statement. “She is grateful for law enforcement’s swift action to keep the community safe and remains focused on the things that matter most here: honoring the legacy and life of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, praying for the other victims who are fighting for their lives, and condemning this abhorrent, senseless political violence.”
On Monday, the Department of Justice announced plans to file six federal charges against Boelter, including two counts of murder using a firearm. Local prosecutors said on Monday they plan to file additional first-degree murder charges against Boelter.
Joseph Thompson, Acting US Attorney for Minnesota, said in a press conference on Monday that Boelter’s car contained notebooks with a list of more than 45 state and federal elected officials, including Hortman and Hoffman and the names of two other Minnesota lawmakers whose homes Boelter visited on Saturday, according to law enforcement.
Thompson said prosecutors are still reviewing evidence to explain why politicians were included on Boelter’s list.
“Obviously, his primary motivation was to go an murder people,” he said. “They were all elected officials. They were all Democrats. Beyond that, I think it’s just way too speculative for anyone that’s reviewed these materials to know and to say what was motivating him in terms of ideology or specific issues.”
Baldwin mourned the deaths of Melissa and Mark Hortman in a statement following the shooting on Saturday and decried the use of violence to solve political conflicts.
“Stunned, terrified, and heartbroken just begin to describe this horror,” Baldwin wrote on X on Saturday. “My heart goes out to the victims, their loved ones, and all our midwestern neighbors. Political violence like this is not who we are as a country. It’s on all of us to condemn and stop it at every turn.”
