Shootings of Minnesota lawmakers lead to calls for metal detectors in Capitol building

The targeted shootings of two Minnesota lawmakers is sparking continued discussion about whether more security is necessary to ensure safety in the relatively open State Capitol building, one of the few in the country that does not use metal detectors or X-rays.

Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman were killed and Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette Hoffman were seriously injured after they were shot in their homes early June 14. Suspect Vance Boelter is charged in federal court with murder and stalking for the shootings, which sent law enforcement scrambling to alert other lawmakers as the manhunt ensued. The attacks also raised growing concerns about balancing lawmaker accessibility with security — particularly at the Capitol building.

The advisory committee charged with assessing Capitol security issues and making recommendations to the Legislature has not met publicly since the shooting. The Minnesota Star Tribune attempted to reach five of its members on Tuesday but they declined to comment. The Legislature itself recently appropriated just a fraction of the $40 million the committee recommended for security upgrades.

State officials have also refrained from revealing what specific security changes were made immediately after the shootings.

DFL Rep. John Huot, who got a permit to carry a gun earlier this year after receiving threatening messages, said he thinks it’s well past time Minnesota implemented a screening process. He noted being surprised on a recent trip to Arizona’s State Capitol, seeing its security measures, and wondering why Minnesota has never had the same.

“This is ridiculous, why are we not a state that does this?” Huot said on Tuesday.

As of 2021, Minnesota’s Capitol was one of 13 in the country which did not require metal detectors or X-rays for entry, according to an analysis by the Council of State Governments, a national nonprofit. Wisconsin’s Capitol security began using handheld metal detection wands on members of the public attending floor sessions last month, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Asked what timeline he hopes is used to install security checks in Minnesota, Huot said, “today is too late.”

“We do not want to make the international news ever again for a situation like this,” Huot said. “It’s time.”

In an interview with the Star Tribune this week, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he wants to “strike a proper balance” regarding Capitol security.

“The one thing is I always worried you make this a ... fortress or whatever, and you discourage the public from coming in. I’m trying to figure that out,” he said.

The attacks led to “increased security measures” at Minnesota’s Capitol complex, Department of Public Safety spokesman Kyle Everson said in a June 20 email. He did not elaborate on what those measures were, citing safety reasons.

A State Patrol spokesman did not say Tuesday whether the increased measures were still in place. He noted that the Advisory Committee on Capitol Area Security is the group that creates security recommendations and changes.

That committee consists of chair Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, Chief Justice Natalie Hudson, Sens. Warren Limmer and Bonnie Westlin, and Reps. Kelly Moller and Jim Nash. Flanagan and the four legislators on the committee were not available for an interview on Tuesday.

The state spent some $19 million on security measures at the Capitol Complex in the late 2010s and early 2020s, according to the 2024 annual report from the advisory committee. Improvements include blast-resistant glass, bollards to prevent vehicle attacks, and new security cameras and key card readers.

But many planned improvements are unfunded. The committee’s 2025 annual report says more than half of the Capitol Complex’s population and building square footage remain “without programmed physical security improvements.”

The committee recommended the Legislature authorize nearly $40 million in spending to make more security upgrades. But the bonding bill legislators passed in early June, just days before the Hortmans and Hoffmans were shot, contained just $2 million for Capitol security. A tight budget and split control of the Legislature between Republicans and Democrats limited the size of the bonding bill this year.

It also appears that there’s no consensus over the issue of metal detectors at the Capitol. Moller, who sits on the advisory committee, said during a Jan. 2024 meeting they are “sorely lacking” at the Capitol building. Flanagan said the issue would be addressed in a future meeting, but no recordings of subsequent meetings have been posted online.

A Department of Administration official told the committee the Capitol itself is “wired” for metal detectors and said they were installed at the Judicial Center a few years before.

Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher is a vocal critic of the lack of security checks at the Capitol. In two letters sent this month to state officials and law enforcement, he called for security upgrades and criticized the speed and level of communication on the morning of the shootings.

Fletcher’s most recent letter, sent July 7, argued that a 4:40 a.m. teletype message from the State Patrol to communication centers about “suspected targeted shootings at legislative members’ homes” should have been sent earlier. The message was sent out a little more than two and a half hours after the Hoffmans were shot, and roughly an hour after the Hortmans were killed.

“Every minute of delayed notification increased the risk to the potential targets,” Fletcher said in his letter, addressed to Minnesota State Patrol Capt. Eric Roeske, and Lori Hodapp, the chief sergeant-at-arms of the House of Representatives.

In response to the letter, Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson said that Fletcher’s letter “does not accurately represent the manner in which law enforcement responded to the tragic events on June 14.”

“Notifications were sent to the proper parties early that morning,” Jacobson said. “We’ll be discussing that in greater detail with the sheriff and the others as the investigation continues.”

In an earlier letter on July 1 to Flanagan, Fletcher offered his condolences and said that the “recent heartbreaking events highlight the urgent need to reexamine security measures within the Capitol Complex.”

He thinks new policies requiring metal detectors and bag checks in the Capitol complex must be implemented by the time the Minnesota Legislature is back in session in January, he told the Star Tribune.

“As it is right now, a person could carry a couple automatic weapons with extra magazines in a bag into any entrance of the Capitol and walk to the gallery,” he said in a phone interview Monday. “That’s not a way to run government, where people have to be in fear of who’s bringing weapons in.”

The sheriff said he thinks the murder of a Minnesota lawmaker will lead to nationwide pressure for states to add security, but, he thinks it’s also surprising that Minnesota has not already adopted said measures.

“I think the flip side of that question is, ‘Three quarters of the states have made a decision to add this security before now. Why are we so slow?’” Fletcher said.

A letter in January from Fletcher to the advisory committee cited the United States’ growing political polarization in America as a reason why the Capitol should have tighter security measures. Fletcher added he thinks the “willingness for certain actors to resort to political violence, threats, and intimidation to those who have different values and beliefs” is also on the rise.

Four days after the shootings, Flanagan posted on social media to say the committee will work to ensure safety at the Capitol.

“In upcoming meetings, our committee will work alongside law enforcement to ensure that the Capitol continues to be a safe place for the important work that happens here,” Flanagan said in her statement. “Together we will build a state where no person fears for their life, where differences make us stronger, and where political violence has no home.”