logo
Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman 'assassinated', Sen. John Hoffman shot: 10 key details

Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman 'assassinated', Sen. John Hoffman shot: 10 key details

Hindustan Times14-06-2025
In a harrowing incident that unfolded in Minnesota, State Senator John Hoffman and State Representative Melissa Hortman, along with their spouses, were shot by individuals at their homes in Brooklyn Park and Champlin.
According to law enforcement and local media reports cited by BNO News, the attackers arrived in what looked like official police vehicles. Tragically, Representative Hortman and her husband, Mark, were killed in the attack
Also Read: 'No Kings' flyers found in Minnesota shooting suspect's car; Tim Walz urges against attending protests
Location of the Minnesota shooting: The Minnesota shooting occurred in the Minneapolis suburbs of Champlin and Brooklyn Park, which is 10 miles from downtown Minneapolis, during the early morning hours of Saturday, June 14.
Victims identified: State Representative Melissa Hortman (former House Speaker) and her husband, Mark, were killed in the shooting. State Senator John Hoffman and his wife were wounded but survived after surgery, as reported by Reuters.
'Targeted' political attack: Governor Tim Walz described the shooting as a 'politically motivated assassination' as he addressed the incident and revealed the deaths of Hortman and her husband.
About the suspects: According to KMSP-TV, the assailants posed as a police officer, wearing a uniform, and arrived in what looked like official police vehicles.
Manhunt: One of the suspects remained at large as of Saturday evening, prompting a significant manhunt involving local police, sheriffs, the FBI, and support from the White House, as reported by CNN.
Suspect's escape: The gunman fled after exchanging gunfire with officers at one of the victims' homes.
Suspect's manifesto found: Law enforcement found a manifesto inside the suspect's fake police vehicle, listing multiple lawmakers and public officials as potential targets.
Shelter-in-place orders: Authorities issued shelter-in-place orders for areas surrounding the Edinburgh Golf Course in Brooklyn Park as the manhunt for the suspect intensified.
Political leaders react: The shootings sparked widespread grief, outrage, and condemnation from political leaders, including President Donald Trump, Amy Klobuchar, and former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on X.
Ongoing investigation: The FBI is fully engaged in the investigation, and authorities have not ruled out further threats, given the manifesto's contents and the possibility of additional accomplices.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Democracies snubbed, dictators courted: Inside Trump's embrace of Pakistan
Democracies snubbed, dictators courted: Inside Trump's embrace of Pakistan

First Post

time24 minutes ago

  • First Post

Democracies snubbed, dictators courted: Inside Trump's embrace of Pakistan

US President Donald Trump looks on as a member of the media raises their hand, at the White House in Washington, DC, US, August 1, 2025. File Image/Reuters On July 31, 2025, Lara Loomer launched a broadside against billionaire Tom Barrack, President Donald Trump's ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria. Loomer, whose outside vetting of Trump appointees has led to waves of firings across his national security bureaucracy, pulled no punches. 'His [Barrack's] appointment to high-level diplomatic posts is alarming, given that his primary expertise lies in leveraging political connections for financial gain,' she wrote. His actions have enabled Islamists to thrive, even at the expense of US national security. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Barrack has a history of opaque financial dealings and what many view as political influence peddling,' she continued. 'His real estate empire, intertwined with Gulf investments, has long raised concerns about conflicts of interest and whether he is truly serving America or if he is flashing his political access.' She included in her tweet a copy of Barrack's 2018 indictment for acting as an unregistered foreign agent on behalf of Middle East interests. Barrack is the rule rather than the exception in Trump's inner circle. Many of the most influential people in the Trump administration have pre-service financial entanglements with Qatar. The US magazine Newsweek reported that, in addition to Trump himself, five major Trump administration officials have financial ties to Qatar: Chief-of-Staff Susie Wiles, FBI Director Kash Patel; Attorney General Pam Bondi; Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff; and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin. Democrats remain up-in-arms over Trump's acceptance of a $400 million jet from Qatar, alleging it amounts to a bribe; given Republican concern that a desire to influence motivates the $20 billion in assistance that Qatar provides American universities, it is hard to deny that Qatari money is not altruistic. For almost a quarter century, successive American presidents have cultivated relations with India. The development of US-India ties has coincided with perhaps the most contentious period in US foreign policy since the debate between isolationists and internationalists in the 1930s. Israel, Russia, NATO, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and China each became political footballs. India, however, stood out as a rare example of bipartisanship. Every US president from George W Bush to Joe Biden worked to cultivate US-India ties. That commitment to a US-India partnership included Trump, at least in his first term. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In his second term, Trump has staked out an opposite position. He approached Pakistani terrorism and its Indian victims with moral equivalency and even dined with Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir, mastermind of the Pahalgam massacre, at the White House. Just as intelligence operatives recruit and compromise targets with either blackmail, bribes, or buffeting ego, so too did Islamabad handle Trump, telling him how much he deserved a Nobel Prize and entrancing Trump with notions of gas deals. The numbers do not lie. On July 31, 2025, Trump slapped 25 per cent sanctions on India, greater than Pakistan (19 per cent), Bangladesh (20 per cent), Sri Lanka (20 per cent), and Afghanistan (15 per cent). Trump treats India with disdain, belittling its economy and privileging countries like Pakistan and Sri Lanka that are Chinese satrapies and Bangladesh and Afghanistan that are hubs for Islamist terror. Each of those countries to which Trump offers better terms ranks well below India on Transparency International's annual corruption index. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD There is no proof that Pakistan, Qatar, or Turkey bribed Trump, though a commonality of Trump's two terms is the conflict of interest between public policy and personal business. Trump's reference to gas deals with Pakistan, his Qatari involvement, and his and Barrack's repeated endorsements of Turkish President Recep Erdogan are coincidences that no Indian should ignore, especially given the coincidences, Trump's policy choices, and the lack of any other logical policy-driven explanation. India must respond in the only way Trump will understand, by denying opportunities to American businesses until Trump or his successors change US policy and again ground it in a partnership of democracies and consensus against terrorism rather than a partnership with corrupt, terror-sponsoring dictatorships. Here, India's decision to abandon the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter makes sense. The US defence industry purposely spreads itself across states and Congressional districts in order to immunise itself from cutbacks by ensuring it always has several dozen, if not hundreds, of lawmakers willing to protect the corporate interest for the sake of their employees. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD According to the Congressional Research Service, F-35 components are produced across 250 different districts in 45 US states. The same pattern holds true with other platforms that the United States would like to sell to India. Cutting contracts makes single headlines, but sending diplomats to each Congressional district to explain why New Delhi made its decision will augment pressure on Trump, especially as midterm elections loom. Trump might even reverse course. While some politicians double down to save face, Trump knows no shame, and if the pressure is great enough, he might simply change policy and try to scrub his recent past in an Orwellian frenzy of sycophantic press and statements. This still leaves India with a problem in the short term: Given the threat China poses to India, some Indian politicians may wish to replace the F-35 with Russia's fifth-generation Sukhoi-57E; this would be a mistake, given Russia's failure to honour previous contracts. Rather, India might shift toward European aircraft until such a time that Trump departs and the United States can right its present wrongs. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Even if New Delhi abandons Lockheed Martin because Trump's antics have raised questions about American reliability, such systems represent not only a lethal combat platform but also a decades-long partnership of training and maintenance. Whatever animus New Delhi might have toward Washington, the long-term stability of Moscow remains a bad bet given the political vacuum that will develop after Putin's death. Trump treats India unfairly, but Trump is an old and, frankly, corrupt man whose time is limited. India will soon be the world's third largest economy; Trump's failure to recognise the benefits of that and the wisdom of choosing democracies over dictatorships and kleptocracies is America's loss. The current crisis, though, can be the stress test to prove the strength of US-India ties. Trump can become the exception that proves the rule. The US Congress still favours India over Pakistan, and every politician motivated more by national security than side business deals will remember which country sheltered Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and which country will drive the international economy through the 21st century. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Bribery can never provide a solid base for bilateral ties like democracy and mutual interests do. Pakistan, like Turkey, will ultimately fall into the dustbin of past American partners no longer worth a future administration's time and energy. India must fight back but should not go scorched earth out of animus toward a man for whom the curtain of power is already closing. Michael Rubin is director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of Firstpost.

Delhi Assembly session to begin from August 4, education bill on agenda
Delhi Assembly session to begin from August 4, education bill on agenda

Business Standard

time6 hours ago

  • Business Standard

Delhi Assembly session to begin from August 4, education bill on agenda

The Delhi Assembly session will be held from August 4 to August 8, with the government set to introduce an education bill for discussion, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said on Saturday. Addressing reporters, Gupta also announced that the Assembly would adopt the e-Vidhan Sabha model for the first time, marking a shift to paperless proceedings. "This time the assembly session will start from 4 August and will continue till 8 August. An education bill will be brought in this session, which will be tabled for discussion. For the first time in history, the Delhi Assembly will now be an e-Vidhan Sabha. It will be paperless..." she said. She further said the Centre had extended financial support for the transition to digital functioning. "A 500 kW solar power plant has been installed in the Delhi Assembly. Delhi Assembly is entirely run on solar energy... We have also digitised the Delhi Secretariat. Today, all our files are going as e-files, and signatures are also becoming digital... " Gupta added. The last sitting of the House on August 1 was adjourned amid slogan-shouting by the opposition over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list in poll-bound Bihar. Meanwhile, Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in a scathing attack on the opposition over the ongoing sessions stated that they did not allow discussion on public issues in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and their sole intention was only to create noise to obstruct the proceedings in the House. Speaking to the media, Khattar said, "The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are platforms where the opposition and the ruling side sit together to discuss public issues, but they (the opposition) do not allow discussions; instead, they create noise to obstruct the proceedings of the House, which is their sole intention. Perhaps they think this has a significant impact on the public, but it has the opposite effect on the public because they do not let the House function." "They (the opposition) have no issues to raise, so they disrupt the proceedings... Therefore, they should act with wisdom," he added.

Explosive! FBI 'Blocked' Trump's Name In Epstein Docs? Musk Claims 3 Democrats On 'Sealed' List
Explosive! FBI 'Blocked' Trump's Name In Epstein Docs? Musk Claims 3 Democrats On 'Sealed' List

Time of India

time13 hours ago

  • Time of India

Explosive! FBI 'Blocked' Trump's Name In Epstein Docs? Musk Claims 3 Democrats On 'Sealed' List

A stunning Bloomberg report has revealed that the FBI redacted Donald Trump's name from the Epstein files, citing privacy exemptions due to his status as a private citizen during the original investigation. Dozens of other high-profile names were also blacked out. Elon Musk later claimed the list contains major Democratic figures and donors as well, suggesting this is why the documents remain sealed. Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly warned Trump in May about his name appearing in the files. Despite public pressure, the DOJ and FBI declared in July that there was 'no basis' for further release of Epstein-related materials. Read More

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store