Prominent Michigan Democrats included in Minnesota suspect's papers

The suspect accused of killing one Minnesota lawmaker and wounding another over the weekend included the names of prominent Michigan Democrats in notes he wrote that were reviewed by law enforcement.

It wasn't clear Monday if the Michigan officials' names were featured in a potential target list or simply mentioned in documents written by Vance Boelter, the suspect who allegedly shot two Democratic state legislators from Minnesota early Saturday at their homes.

The news of the violence in Minnesota sent reverberations through the political scene in Michigan, a battleground state that's experienced a rash of threats against officeholders in recent years and the uncovering of a 2020 plot to kidnap its governor, Gretchen Whitmer.

The Michigan Democrats included in Boelter's writings were Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson of Detroit; Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly; and U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor; Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids; Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit; Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham; and Shri Thanedar, D-Detroit.

"The gunman had written down over 80 members of Congress, scribbled on hundreds of sheets of papers which included hundreds of names of additional civilians and local politicians," said Thanedar, noting he's been in conversation with local police and D.C. special agents.

"I am just one of the 80. The FBI feels that there were no threats or home addresses for members associated, so (it's) not quite a planned threat against members. ... According to the FBI, they don’t think it’s a hit list but a rambling of a conspiracy."

Police were patrolling and conducting surveillance at lawmakers’ homes both in Washington, D.C., and in Michigan, but "we don’t know how long that will last," Thanedar added. 

"We’ve got to do our jobs. We can’t be intimidated by this, because that’s what they want. … But I can’t help looking over my shoulder for any suspicious activity that might be happening around me," he said.

"It’s very scary stuff. This kind of political violence we don’t expect to happen in America. We really all need to bring the temperature down, starting with the president."

Scholten’s office said Monday that she had increased her security and canceled a Muskegon town hall planned for Monday night. Scholten spokeswoman Cecilia Belzer said Michigan State Police were the first to let the congresswoman know about her name appearing among Boelter's documents.

"Out of an abundance of caution and to not divert additional law enforcement resources away from protecting the broader public at this time, this is the responsible choice," Scholten said in a statement on not holding her town hall. "We will reschedule this event as soon as possible, and I remain committed to ensuring every West Michigander has the opportunity to make their voice heard."

Dingell, by contrast, planned to move ahead with two planned Monday evening town halls in her district, according to her office.

The office of U.S. Sen. Gary Peters of Bloomfield Township said it is requesting additional information from the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Peters is the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security panel.

What notebooks contained

The Monday criminal complaint filed against Boelter said officers recovered from his SUV several notebooks full of hand-written notes that listed the names of more than 45 Minnesota state and federal public officials, including prominent Democrats and community figures, individuals with ties to Planned Parenthood and the abortion rights movement, according to the Associated Press.

The notebooks also contained lists of internet-based people search engines used to aggregate home address information, including Spokeo, Pipl and the Whitepages, according to the complaint.

During a press conference overnight, Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said there were names in Boelter's documents from Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin.

“I will not get into any more specifics beyond that,” Evans told reporters.

In a separate Monday press conference, Evans said law enforcement had reviewed multiple "writings" from Boelter. Likewise, Joseph Thompson, acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota, said there were hundreds of pages of documents with names featured in multiple notebooks. Some of the notebooks were found in a vehicle, while others were in Boelter's home, Thompson said.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker told reporters Monday that there was no "hit list" with the names of Illinois politicians on it. More than 600 names were included within documents police uncovered in "more of a hodgepodge," Pritzker said.

"It wasn’t a list of 600," Pritzker said. "It was literally a few people here and a few people there."

U.S. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York wrote Monday to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, asking him to boost the money available for U.S. House lawmakers to spend on their security, following the weekend shootings, Politico reported.

The suspect, 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.

State Senate schedule still on

Boelter is accused of posing as a police officer and fatally shooting Democratic former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home early Saturday in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis. Officials said he also shot Sen. John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette. They were injured at their residence, about 9 miles away.

Boelter went to the homes of two other lawmakers to carry out more violence on the night of the shootings, but one of the other lawmakers was not home, and the suspect left the other house after police arrived, acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said at a Monday news conference.

The 57-year-old Boelter is facing state charges, including murder and attempted murder, and has been charged with federal murder and stalking offenses.

“Boelter planned his attack carefully” by researching his intended victims and their families and conducting surveillance of their homes and taking notes, Thompson said. Though the targets were Democrats and elected officials, the acting U.S. attorney said it was too soon to speculate on any sort of political ideology that could explain his motives.

Authorities declined to name the two other elected officials whom Boelter allegedly stalked but who escaped harm. But it was clear the shootings were politically motivated, they said.

The charges came as Robert Davis Forney, 25, of Duluth, Georgia, was arraigned Monday on federal charges of communicating threats in interstate commerce. Forney was accused of leaving voicemails threatening sexual violence against U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and his family as well as against U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Nebraska, in January, according to the U.S. Attorney's office for the Northern District of Georgia.

Michigan Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, tweeted over the weekend that she personally knew Hortman.

"The murder of her and Mark leaves a huge hole in their community, and state legislators across the country and across party lines are grieving for them," Brinks posted on Saturday.

The Michigan Senate has session days scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. Those session days and committee hearings planned for this week will go forward, Brinks spokeswoman Rosie Jones said.

Jones declined to share the specifics of any additional security measures that might be taken.

mburke@detroitnews.com

cmauger@detroitnews.com