By Lee Williams
SAF Investigative Journalism Project
Just minutes after Vance Boelter, 57, was caught, disarmed and arrested in a field near his Green Isle, Minnesota home by one of the 20 SWAT teams that had been searching tirelessly for him, the legacy media began speculating about his personal politics and motivations.
Boelter was an extreme threat who had a lengthy list of additional victims. Police said they found three AK-47s and a 9mm Beretta handgun in his personal SUV, which he had left at his second crime scene where he allegedly committed two murders.
As a native Minnesotan who grew up hunting and fishing in L’etoile du Nord— “Star of the North”— Boelter’s horrific killings should be difficult for me to understand, but as an ex-cop I don’t even bother. We will never understand his true motive(s), and all the media blather about his personal politics is just a waste of our time.
I’m much more—infinitely more—concerned about his victims and their families: Minnesota DFL (Democratic Farmer Labor Party) leader Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, whom Boelter allegedly assassinated, and state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, who were both horribly wounded but will likely survive.
These four victims and their families deserve our prayers.
Unfortunately, Boelter bears all of the attributes that the mainstream media seeks in a mass-killing suspect whom they wish to exploit for ratings. We have all seen this before. The media had teams going over every single message he posted online, and every single message he liked or republished.
What the media never gets right is that rational people don’t commit crimes based upon what they read online. In other words, online rhetoric doesn’t cause folks to break the law. It causes them to go to another website.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, another DFL member who previously served as Hennepin County’s chief public defender, strongly pushed the politics button during a press conference Monday morning.
“Political violence is prevalent, and the way we talk to and about each other has raised the threat to unfathomable levels. We cannot continue on this way,” Moriarty said. “As we navigate our daily lives, we need to find way to support one another. As our community grieves, I encourage those out there seeking to create additional chaos that it’s time to stop spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories.”
This wasn’t the first time Moriarty’s words have raised serious questions. Just last month, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a formal investigation into Moriarty’s office, after she told her prosectors that they must now consider a defendant’s race when negotiating plea deals. Her race-based plea negotiations should have been national news, but most of the state’s reporters are DFL members too.
Boelter’s own history shows he was mentally troubled. As a result, state officials were likely planning to use his case to further erode the Second Amendment rights of 5.83 million Minnesotans.
Thankfully, their state plans may have ended around noon Monday.
Federal charges
Joseph H. Thompson, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, said during a press conference that Boelter’s killings were “haunting” and “the stuff of nightmares.”
As a result, Thompson said, Boelter now faces federal charges.
Thompson described the six-count federal complaint that Boelter now faces, which includes several charges punishable by the federal death penalty. Thompson declined to comment on whether his prosecutors would seek the death penalty.
“This was the largest manhunt in Minnesota history,” Thompson said. “The men and women in federal and state law enforcement put their lives at risk. We owe them all a debt of gratitude. The last 48 hours have been an incredible testament to the professionalism of our federal and state law enforcement.”
The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.
