Politically motivated shootings prompt concerns about lawmakers’ safety, Capitol security

The assassination of House DFL leader Melissa Hortman and attempted slaying of Democratic Sen. John Hoffman has resurfaced longstanding concerns about lawmakers’ security.

The attacks have prompted heightened police protection for some state and federal lawmakers and raised questions about the relatively open Minnesota Capitol building. Already Sunday, biographical information and lawmakers’ hometowns had been removed from the Legislature’s website.

There will be extra security measures in place when the building reopens to the public Monday.

Law enforcement apprehended Vance Luther Boelter, the primary suspect in the shootings, on Sunday evening.

State Sen. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, said the shootings have shaken people’s sense of safety.

“It’s just another step along the way where we have lost some of the civility and humanity in our country,” Abeler said.

While the U.S. Capitol and many state capitols screen people as they enter, visitors can walk into Minnesota’s without passing through metal detectors or having their bags searched.

Parts of the Minnesota Capitol have restricted access, and sergeants guard the doors of the House and Senate. But lawmakers have raised concerns in the past that the lack of metal detectors and X-ray machines mean visitors could easily bring in firearms.

Abeler said Sunday that lawmakers have talked about hardening security at the Capitol for a decade, calling it “inevitable and necessary.”

“It’s time,” Abeler said, adding that he expected many of his colleagues would want to strengthen security when they return in February for their regular legislative session.

“I think the times of [an] extremely open Capitol is probably done,” he said.

He expected the shootings would have a chilling effect on people who might otherwise run for office.

Sen. Nick Frentz, DFL-North Mankato, said he wasn’t sure if lawmakers will raise questions about security at the Capitol in the coming days. The building’s openness allows residents access to their elected officials, he said.

“That’s considered a real virtue,” Frentz added.

Even before the attacks, Capitol security had come up among lawmakers. In a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Capitol Area Security in January, Rep. Kelly Moller, DFL-Shoreview, said weapon detection systems were not included in recommendations for updated Capitol security.

“In light of the world we live in now, the fact that over 30 states have systems … I feel like that’s sorely lacking,” Moller said in January.

The shock of Saturday’s attacks also reverberated in the nation’s Capitol as federal lawmakers clamored for additional security.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, announced Saturday he had requested increased security for Minnesota Sens. Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar, both Democrats.

Klobuchar acknowledged the increased security presence in an appearance on “Meet the Press” on Sunday, though she said she hadn’t received confirmation whether she was on a list of potential targets recovered by law enforcement. Federal law enforcement sources confirmed to the Minnesota Star Tribune that Klobuchar was on the suspected shooter’s list.

The senator said she was not fearful for her safety. But Klobuchar said the shooter knows “no limits, whether you’re on the list, whether you’re not.”

“I believe that our local law enforcement and the Capitol police and the like will protect us,” she said, “but again, my concern is that that guy’s going to come up against just an innocent and try to take their car, try to go into their house right now.”

“A lot of the political leaders in our state have received extra protection,” she added, “but not the innocents out there.”

Walker Orenstein of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this report.