In the hours after a man shot two Minnesota lawmakers in their homes on Saturday, Wisconsin’s legislative leaders issued a rare joint statement.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, were joined by Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, D-Racine, and Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, in condemning political violence after reports that the shootings were a politically targeted assassination and assassination attempt.

“No one should ever fear for their lives because of their service to their community,” the leaders wrote. “Political violence accomplishes nothing, and is never the answer.”

But in the days since, even after the revelation that at least 11 Wisconsin officials were named in a manifesto by the alleged shooter, lawmakers have differed about security needs for elected officials in the state.

Speaking before the Assembly convened for a standard session on Wednesday, Vos said it was important to “take a breath and look at what’s going to be the actual best potential solution, as opposed to a knee-jerk reaction.”

“The thing that’s most scary is this didn’t occur in a Capitol (building),” he added. “It occurred at someone’s home. So the idea of trying to make the Capitol into a fortress, I don’t know if that necessarily would even have ever done anything … to help the awful situation that happened in Minnesota.”

Vos said Republicans planned to discuss next steps but expressed doubts about the efficacy of making the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison less immediately accessible.

His caucus is not necessarily united in their response, however. Over the weekend, Sen. Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, said on WISN-TV that he wanted to see metal detectors and a ban on members of the public carrying firearms at the Capitol.

On the other side of the aisle, Democratic leaders were more vague about prospective security changes, citing safety concerns.

“I feel safe in our Capitol building. I think we’re going to continue to have conversations to make sure that everyone else feels safe as well,” Hesselbein said.

Asked about metal detectors specifically, Neubauer declined to comment.

“We’re not going to comment at this point on specific security measures, but are open to longer-term conversations to ensure that everyone feels safe,” she said.

Heightened security measures went into effect at the Capitol this week. Wisconsin State Capitol Senate Sergeant at Arms Timothy La Sage announced Monday that Capitol Police were implementing “updated measures.” He gave few specifics, citing “operational integrity,” and did not specify whether the measures would be in place permanently.

This isn’t the first conversation about Wisconsin officials’ personal safety in recent years, a time when experts say heightened polarization has led to increased threats against politicians, judges and civil servants.

Two years ago, an armed man entered the state Capitol demanding to speak with Gov. Tony Evers. He was arrested and released, then returned and was arrested again. Evers at the time did not discuss security changes made afterwards, but said, “Anytime something like this happens, obviously they (Capitol police) reevaluate.”

Just days before the Minnesota shootings, the Legislature’s budget-writing committee considered a proposal to increase funding security for Wisconsin Supreme Court justices. The request comes amid increased threats against federal judges in recent months, and as the Legislature’s nonpartisan budget office has identified dozens of “credible, identified threats” against Wisconsin Supreme Court justices in the last three years — and dozens in just the first few months of this year.

The GOP-held Joint Finance Committee ultimately rejected Evers’ $1 million budget request, arguing the Capitol Police force protects justices, too.

A North Dakota man has been accused of threatening a federal official in an email that refers to the shooting of two lawmakers in Minnesota.

In the email, Charles Dalzell, of St. Thomas, said he was ignored by multiple government officials when he tried to get help with a legal issue, according to a criminal complaint filed June 17 in federal court.

”Now I’m going to be honest with you I don’t want this situation to end up like Minnesota over the weekend,” Dalzell wrote, the complaint said.

Dalzell sent the email shortly after 5 p.m. June 15 to a person identified in the complaint as “J.P.” at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of North Dakota.

Dalzell also said he was owed money after a court victory and that “police were attempting to silence him so public officials could engage in corruption,” the complaint said.

“I want to avoid any more problems and don’t want North Dakota to end up like Minnesota and no that is not a threat [J.P.] it’s a fact and a statement that it’s a bad situation and I wouldn’t want any part of it,” he wrote, according to the complaint.

Dalzell was previously warned by law enforcement that another email sent Feb. 26, 2024, to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of North Dakota was “borderline threatening,” according to the complaint.

Minnesota shooting suspect Vance Boelter appears in federal court, will remain in custody

“He was also notified that it was a violation to threaten people over the internet and his communications were being perceived as threats,” the complaint said.

Dalzell was arrested June 16 and is charged with one count of making threats against a federal official and one count of making interstate threats. His initial court appearance is scheduled for June 18, according to court records.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The man charged with killing a prominent Minnesota lawmaker and wounding another could face something that is a rarity for Minnesota but could become more common under the Trump administration: the death penalty.

Minnesota abolished capital punishment in 1911, and the state’s last execution was a botched hanging in 1906. But federal prosecutors announced charges against Vance Boelter on Monday that can carry the death penalty.

It’s not unheard of for state and federal prosecutors to both pursue criminal cases for the same offense, especially in high-profile matters.

In this case federal authorities essentially grabbed the lead from the state prosecutor, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty. Boelter had been scheduled to make his first court appearance on state charges Monday, but instead marshals took him from the county jail to the U.S. courthouse in St. Paul, where he appeared on the more serious federal charges.

Boelter is accused of fatally shooting former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home early Saturday in the northern Minneapolis suburbs. Before that, authorities say, he also shot and wounded another Democrat, Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, who lived a few miles away. He surrendered Sunday night after what authorities have called the largest search in Minnesota history.

The federal case

Two of the six federal counts can carry the death penalty, something federal prosecutors have not sought in a Minnesota-based case since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976.

“Will we seek the death penalty? It’s too early to tell. That is one of the options,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said Monday at a news conference where he revealed new details of what he described as a meticulously planned attack. They included allegations that Boelter also stopped at the homes of two other lawmakers that night and had dozens of other Democrats as potential targets, including officials in other states.

Boelter’s federal defenders have declined to comment on the case, and he has not entered a plea.

On her first day in office in February, Attorney General Pam Bondi lifted a moratorium on federal executions that was imposed under the Biden administration in 2021. Only three defendants remain on federal death row after Biden converted 37 of their sentences to life in prison.

Bondi has since authorized federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in at least three cases, including against Luigi Mangione for the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. In the other two cases, the Justice Department has said it is seeking the death penalty against defendants charged with killing fellow prison inmates.

President Donald Trump’s first administration carried out 13 federal executions, more than the administration of any other president in modern history.

The state’s case

The federal intervention in Boelter’s case appeared to irritate Moriarty, the county’s former chief public defender, who was elected on a police reform and racial justice platform in 2022 after the police killing of George Floyd.

At a news conference Monday to announce the state charges, Moriarty gave only vague answers in response to questions about the interplay between the federal and state investigations. But she acknowledged “there’s a tension” and said federal officials “can speak for themselves.”

Moriarty said she intends to press forward in state court regardless and to seek an indictment for first-degree murder for the killings of the Hortmans, which would carry a mandatory sentence of life without parole. Her office did not immediately respond to a request for further comment Tuesday.

As evidence of the tensions, the county attorney refused to clarify how Boelter’ first hearings would play out. Court records show that Boelter was called for a first appearance in Hennepin County on Monday and that because he was not there as he was in federal custody, the judge issued a bench warrant as a formality, as requested by prosecutors.

“Usually murder cases are overwhelmingly handled in state courts,” said Mark Osler, a death penalty expert at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis. “Clearly this is something of national interest. And that seemed to play a role in the decision that the Justice Department is making here.”

Osler, who formerly served as Moriarty’s deputy county attorney and head of her criminal division, as well as assistant U.S. attorney in Detroit, acknowledged that there are often tensions between state and federal prosecutors.

“There’s no doubt that it’s complicated,” Osler said. “And it’s hard to avoid the sense of the older sibling grabbing something away from the younger sibling.”

What’s next

If federal officials do pursue the death penalty, Osler said, they will face an unusual challenge: “a jury pool drawn from the citizens of a state that has rejected the death penalty for over 100 years. It’s not the same as choosing people in a state where there’s a history of support for the death penalty, such as Texas.”

After his federal court appearance, Boelter was taken to the Sherburne County Jail in suburban Elk River, where federal prisoners are often held.

Thompson told reporters that the federal case “does not nullify the state charges. They remain in place. … My expectation based on prior cases is the federal case, the federal charges, will be litigated first, but the state charges won’t necessarily go anywhere.”

Boelter’s next federal court appearance is June 27. He does not have any further appearances scheduled in state court.

“There’s a natural competitiveness that occurs sometimes between jurisdictions, but you have to hope that in the end, they’re all facing the same way where there’s something as important to public safety as this case is,” Osler said.

___

Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed.