Republican Senator Mike Lee has been blasted online after a heartless post mocking the shooting of Minnesota senators.
Lee posted a picture on X of the masked suspected assassin, 57-year-old Vance Boelter, alongside a headshot of Boelter with the caption, ‘Nightmare on Waltz Street.’
The ruthless post sneer came just hours after the murder of Minnesota Senator Melissa Hortman and her husband, and attempted murder state Senator John Hoffman and his wife in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The Utah senator faced serious backlash as users online tore into Lee for the ‘grotesque’ poorly-timed reference.
‘His post is a disgrace. Every person with any type of moral compass in Utah should be demanding he resign,’ one user wrote.
One said: ‘Mike Lee always makes things worse. He doesn’t get this guy is deranged and needs to n found. Just cares about making it political. He is just embarrassing himself. He owes the country an apology but ppl like him NEVER apologize.’
Another wrote: ‘Using this tragedy to push your own political agenda is disgraceful, people are dead.’
‘Mike Lee’s grotesque “Nightmare on Waltz Street” meme is a shameful exploitation of a violent tragedy, exposing his callous disregard for human lives while he panders to his extremist base,’ another commented.
The post was Lee’s second controversial message following the shooting.
In the other, he captioned a photo of the masked gunman with, ‘This is what happens … When Marxists don’t get their way.’
Lee was equally berated for the post.
‘You should resign. This is extremely inappropriate, unprofessional, and delusional,’ another said.
‘You are sick dude. You should be impeached for this – it’s utterly crazy what our politics have become in this country. Just when you think we have hit rock bottom, some piece of s*** like this takes us lower.’
The alleged gunman, an employee of security company Praetorian Guard Security, where he worked as the director of security patrols, was arrested late on Sunday evening for the murder and attempted murder of the senators and their spouses.
Police said Boelter shot Hoffman and his wife Yvette at their home in Champlin at around 2am on Saturday, but they survived the attack with multiple wounds.
Hortman and her husband Mark were then fatally shot at their home eight miles away in Brooklyn Park about 3am.
Officers encountered the gunman fleeing Hortman’s home at 3.35am and exchanged gunfire with him, which is when they reportedly found an initial hit list.
Chilling photos showed the suspect donning an unsettling costume mask covering his entire head.
Following a foot-chase, the gunman escaped law enforcement until his arrest on Sunday.
Now, Boelter is facing both state and federal charges, with authorities announcing a ‘nationwide warrant’ for Boelter’s arrest for the shootings at the state level as well as a federal warrant for ‘unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.’
Boelter, a Trump supporter, was tracked into a field in Sibley County and, when a helicopter flew overhead, he put his arms up in the air and walked over to a nearby SWAT vehicle, according to reporter Liz Collin.
His arrest came just hours after authorities located his car, a Buick that appeared to be dumped in Faxon Township, and found a cowboy hat lying on the ground identical to one Boelter was wearing in CCTV images released by the FBI.
It is believed Boelter was motivated to kill the two Democrats due to their support for abortion rights after police uncovered a hit list of about 70 people from his car Saturday morning.
Most of the names on that list were Democrats or people with ties to Planned Parenthood or the abortion rights movement, including Rep. Ilhan Omar, CNN reported.
A second hit list with more than a dozen new names was also found during a search of one of Boelter’s homes on Saturday as police continued their manhunt for the suspect.
Authorities previously questioned Boelter’s wife, Jenny, who was stopped at a convenience store while driving a car with three other relatives inside near Onamia about 10am on Saturday.
She was found with a weapon, ammunition, cash, and passports about 75 miles from where the shootings took place in northern Minneapolis eight hours earlier.
More than a dozen officers swarmed Jenny’s car during the traffic stop and they were at the scene for two to three hours.
Jenny was detained for questioning after officers found the items inside the vehicle, but no one was arrested as she was released.
Authorities have since said she and other family members were cooperative with the investigation.
But it remains unclear whether Boelter’s vehicle was stopped randomly or being tracked by police.
When authorities then began their search for the suspect, Boelter’s best friend and roommate David Carlson told local news outlet KARE11 he was an avid Trump supporter and voted for the Republican candidate.
He also described the suspect as a Christian who opposed abortion.
Boelter lived a life of public service before Saturday’s tragedies, and even served on the Governor’s Workforce Development Board, which works closely with Gov. Tim Walz to give advice on the state’s workforce.
He served on the board from June 2016 to June 2018 as a private sector representative and from December 2019 to January 2023 as a board member.
He was appointed under Walz both times.
Additionally, Boelter was the chief executive of Red Lion Group, which was based in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The night before the deadly shots were fired, the suspected gunman texted his roommates that he was ‘going to be gone for a while’.
Carlson, who shared a North Minneapolis home with Boelter, tearfully read aloud text messages from the accused assassin.
‘David and Ron, I love you guys,’ the eerie note began. ‘I made some choices, and you guys don’t know anything about this, but I’m going to be gone for a while.’
He also said he ‘may be dead shortly’ and did not wish to involve Carlson or his other roommate Ron Ramsey.
‘I don’t know why he did what he did,’ Carlson, his roommate, told KARE 11.
‘It’s just… it’s not Vance… He had lots of friends, trust me, and I wish I could have been there to stop him.’