Alleged assassin Vance Boelter has claimed that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz instructed him to kill Senator Amy Klobuchar in a rambling letter addressed to the FBI, the Minnesota Star Tribune has reported.
Boelter, who killed State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, and shot State Senator John Hoffman and his wife earlier this month, claimed in the letter that Walz instructed him to carry out his killings so that Walz could run for Senate.
Klobuchar is one of Minnesota’s two sitting senators, having been elected to her fourth term last year. Walz, who ran as Kamala Harris’ vice presidential candidate last year, is not running for Senate.
The letter is reportedly one and a half pages long and “incoherent and hard to read.” In it, Boelter alleges that he had been trained by the U.S. military “off the books,” and that Walz asked him to kill Klobuchar and several others. Sen. Tina Smith, the other Senator from Minnesota, was also named in the letter.
While unable to comment on an open investigation, a spokesperson for the Hennepin County Attorney’s office said, “Due to the seriousness of the allegations it contains, we will state only that we have seen no evidence that the allegations regarding Governor Walz are based in fact.”
A spokesperson for Walz said on Friday afternoon that “this tragedy continues to be deeply disturbing for all Minnesotans,” adding that, “Governor Walz is grateful to law enforcement who apprehended the shooter, and he’s grateful to the prosecutors who will ensure justice is swiftly served.”
Klobuchar said of the news, “Boelter is a very dangerous man and I am deeply grateful that law enforcement got him behind bars before he killed other people.”
In addition to the Hortmans and the Hoffmans, law enforcement officials also confirmed that Boelter visited the homes of two other state lawmakers during his spree. The letter was found in a Buick Boelter abandoned near his home, while a list containing the names of more than 45 state and federal officials was found in an abandoned SUV alongside a stockpile of weapons and ammunition.
