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Iowans included on list recovered from scene of Minnesota lawmaker shooting
Minnesota lawmaker injured in shooting had deep ties to Iowa
Jun. 16, 2025 3:33 pm, Updated: Jun. 17, 2025 8:10 am
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A list of prominent state and federal lawmakers, community leaders and abortion rights advocates recovered from the fake police vehicle used in the targeted shooting Saturday that killed a Minnesota Democratic lawmaker and left another wounded included individuals in Iowa, according to Minnesota law enforcement and state legislative leaders.
A list of about 70 names was found in writings recovered from the fake police vehicle that was left at the crime scene, officials told the Associated Press. A Minnesota official told the AP that lawmakers who had been outspoken in favor of abortion rights were on the list.
In addition to Minnesota, officials on the list came from Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska and Iowa, Drew Evans, the head of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, told The Washington Post.
Iowa House and Senate Democratic leaders Rep. Brian Meyer, of Des Moines, and Sen. Janice Weiner, of Iowa City, told The Gazette they reached out Monday to the Iowa Department of Public Safety (DPS) and Iowa State Patrol, which provides security at the Iowa Capitol. Both said they were told by state law enforcement officials that they were aware of people in Iowa included on the list, and those people were contacted privately by DPS or other law enforcement to make them aware.
Meyer and Weiner said officials were not publicly releasing the list of names.
“We reached out proactively to DPS, and my understanding is there are no legislators on the list,” Weiner said.
A spokesperson for DPS did not immediately respond to messages Monday seeking comment.
Weiner said she intends to meet in the coming days with Iowa Public Safety Commissioner Stephan Bayens “to make sure we’re all following the best safety procedures possible.”
She and Meyer issued statements Saturday, along with Iowa Republican officials — including Gov. Kim Reynolds, Iowa Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, U.S. Reps. Ashley Hinson and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley — expressing their grief and sorrow, prayers, condolences and sympathies for the victims and their families, and condemning what authorities say was a targeted political attack.
Reynolds, in a post on X, said: “Horrific news coming out of Minnesota. Political violence is unacceptable, and anyone responsible for this attack must be brought to justice. We are keeping the victims and all the people of Minnesota in our prayers.”
Meyer, too, said he is “horrified” by the apparent assassination of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman. He said it’s “deeply troubling” and “heartbreaking” to see public servants become the subject of such targeted violence.“
Weiner said she was heartened to see the bipartisan statements of support and condemnation of political violence.
“I hope we can all take a lesson from this and work together and turn down the heat,” she said. “We’re public servants, and this should not be a part of public service. We should be able to work for Iowans by working together. … It’s a horrific act. And that’s not the world we ought to be living in, and we have to figure out how to dial it down."
The suspect, Vance Boelter, surrendered to police Sunday after they found him in the woods near his home following a massive manhunt that began early Saturday near Minneapolis, the AP reported.
Boelter is accused of posing as a police officer and fatally shooting Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home early Saturday in the northern Minneapolis suburbs. Authorities say he also shot Sen. John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette.
The 57-year-old Boelter was charged with federal murder and stalking offenses. He already faces state charges, including murder and attempted murder.
Former Iowa House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, D-Windsor Heights, who served with Hortman on the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee last election cycle, said she had extra police patrols around her house while Boelter was still at large.
“As a visible Democrat in Iowa, I wanted to make sure my family could feel safe when he was still on the loose,” Konfrst said. “I contacted the mayor and the police chief and just asked them to keep an extra eye in the course of their regular duties. … I know it helped my husband and I feel safer knowing we could contact them at any time and they were aware. Certainly, no specific threat that I’m aware of, but obviously jarring and nerve-wracking for my husband and me.”
Suspected shooter, Minnesota lawmaker had ties to Iowa
Both Boelter and Hoffman have ties to Iowa.
A spokesman for Des Moines Area Community College told The New York Times that Boelter took classes in the school’s mortuary science program, which is primarily an online program, in 2023 and 2024. Online records indicate Boelter owned a Woodbury County address near Sioux City from 2020-2024.
Hoffman worked for Polk County and the State of Iowa from 1991 to 2001, according to the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library.
Iowa state Sen. Claire Celsi said she, Hoffman and Ray Blase co-founded the West Des Moines Democrats group in 1992, “way before we had Democrats in office in the western suburbs.” A trend that continued until her and Konfrst’s elections in 2018.
Hoffman’s wife, Yvette, was a former on-air personality at Des Moines radio station Star 102.5 who listeners may remember as "Kelly Fox," Celsi said. They were introduced by mutual friends.
Celsi said the politically-motivated shooting is sobering.
“John was just a regular Joe in Polk County, way before he thought about running for office of any kind,” she said. “He obviously got the bug for public service at some point during his time in Iowa. We all knew he was destined to run at some point, we just didn’t know when. I was thrilled when John got elected and called him up. … Just a really super nice man. I was so proud of him. … It spurred me on to keep going and to run for office."
Celsi said she spoke to Hoffman on the phone about a month ago.
“I asked him how Yvette was doing, and he had a fundraiser the night of the incident that evening,” she said. “From what I understand, John and Yvette are both recovering well. I do not know the extent of their injuries."
Former state lawmaker remembers Hortman from law school
Democratic former Iowa state Sen. Rob Hogg, of Cedar Rapids, said Hortman represented the best of Minnesota and of politics.
Hogg and Hortman were in the same first-year law school class at the University of Minnesota in the fall of 1992 and had every class together.
He said Hortman was a committed public servant who deeply loved her state and was devoted to making it a better place and bringing people together.
“She was always very committed to helping people,” Hogg said. “She was a very serious student, and somebody I really admired.”
After graduating law school, the two became reacquainted after Hortman was elected to the Minnesota legislature in 2004. Hogg said he followed her legislative career carefully, and both were elected by their respective caucuses to be minority leader in 2017.
In 2023, when the Iowa Democratic Party was looking for a speaker last-minute for the Wing Ding political fundraiser at the Surf Ballroom and Museum in Clear Lake, Hogg suggested Hortman.
“I was extraordinarily proud of my classmate and friend,” Hogg said of Hortman, who delivered both political as well as policy victories for Democrats with narrow control of the Minnesota state legislature and the governorship under Tim Walz.
When lawmakers convened in January with a vacancy in a Democratic seat in the House giving the GOP a temporary advantage, Hortman led a boycott of daily sessions for more than three weeks to force Republicans into a power-sharing arrangement.
Hogg said Hortman worked to bring together progressive Democratic legislators from the metro Twin Cities and moderates from the increasingly conservative Iron Range.
“She had a personality and a character that could hold people together,” he said. “She cared about people. She was in politics for all of the right reasons. She wanted to help people. Just a terrific person, and horrific to think about what happened to her and her husband in their last moments. … It’s an unimaginable loss for them and a huge loss for the people in Minnesota, who have benefited so much from her work over the years.”
Hogg predicts the targeted shootings will profoundly change the way lawmakers and public officials approach public events.
“You will see much more security,” he said. “People will be much more private now, and that’s going to be hard. You want to know who your elected officials are as people, and Melissa would have always been accessible.”
Hogg said he hopes some good comes of the tragedy, and that “people will see the consequences of the violence, how horrific it is and that it’s not a solution to people’s problems,” and people come to appreciate and emulate Hortman’s ability to work with people from all different backgrounds.
“We need to support one another and help our neighbors, and that’s what politics is supposed to be about,” Hogg said.
“How are we going to stop this,” he said of gun violence, inflamed political rhetoric, culture wars and exacerbated political polarization.
“What are we going to do different to stop this? I hope as a society we can figure that out quickly.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com
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