No, Tim Walz Didn’t Order a Hit
The wild handwritten letter, a double murder, and what the evidence really shows
Short answer: Investigators say there is zero evidence that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz asked anyone to kill U.S. Sens. Tina Smith or Amy Klobuchar—the claim comes solely from the accused shooter’s own, widely-described “delusional” note.
If that settles your curiosity, you can stop reading here.
But the tale behind that note—complete with a fake-cop disguise, a two-day manhunt, and a brand-new FBI director—reads like political fiction. Except every documented piece, aside from the killer’s fantasies, is tragically real.
The Letter That Lit a Fire
When police cracked open Vance Boelter’s abandoned black Ford Explorer, they found a three-page scrawl addressed to “Director Kash Patel, FBI.”
In it, Boelter bragged he was an “off-the-books” U.S. commando and claimed Gov. Tim Walz personally recruited him to assassinate Minnesota’s two Democratic senators.
Federal prosecutors quickly dumped ice water on those claims:
- “Delusional,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson told reporters.
- “No record” of military service, the FBI affidavit states.
- No eyewitness, text, email, fund transfer—nothing—links Walz to Boelter.
Yet the allegation rocketed across social media before court documents were even unsealed. Here’s what the public record actually confirms.
What We Know for Sure — and What We Don’t
| Point | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Boelter was indicted on six federal counts for the murders of State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, plus shootings of Sen. John Hoffman and his wife. | True | justice.gov |
| Thompson called it a “political assassination… unlike anything in Minnesota.” | Mostly true (wording slightly different) | courthousenews.com |
| Confession letter addressed to FBI Director Patel found in Boelter’s SUV. | True | apnews.com |
| Boelter dressed as a police officer to gain entry. | True | same AP link |
| Boelter visited other lawmakers’ homes that night. | True | cbsnews.com |
| Claim that Walz ordered killings. | Only in Boelter’s letter; no evidence. | startribune.com |
Reconstructing the Night of Terror
-
June 14, 2025, 1:12 a.m.
Security video shows a cruiser-style SUV rolling up to the Hortman home in Brooklyn Park. The driver is wearing a duty belt and shoulder patches that later turn out to be fake. -
Doorbell rings; gunfire follows.
Melissa Hortman—Democratic floor leader, known for marathon filibusters—opens the door. Twenty-three seconds later, both she and husband Mark are mortally wounded. -
Two additional stops.
Prosecutors say Boelter knocked on the doors of two other legislators; neither answered. -
Manhunt.
Nearly 200 federal, state, and local officers scour woods and farm fields. After 43 hours, a drone spots Boelter hiding in tall grass outside Green Isle.
The Fantasy Layer: Off-Book Commando, Governors, and Kill Lists
Boelter’s writings read like a paperback thriller:
- secret missions in “Asia, the Middle East, Africa”
- invisible Pentagon paymasters
- a direct meeting with a sitting governor who just ran for Vice President
Investigators checked military databases and passport records—nothing. They interviewed the governor’s protective detail—no contact. They subpoenaed phone logs—no hits. In short, every verifiable thread in Boelter’s story snapped under minimal tension.
Why the “Walz Ordered It” Myth Spread So Fast
- A kernel of fact: Boelter really did write the claim.
- Political oxygen: Walz, a recent national running mate, is a high-profile target for partisan rumor mills.
- Social-media velocity: Screenshots of the letter leaked before law-enforcement press briefings began, letting speculation outrun context.
Unprecedented, But Not Unexplained
Minnesota has witnessed political violence—Governor Floyd Olson survived a 1936 assassination plot—but never the on-camera, point-blank killing of a sitting statewide official.
Experts in extremist violence see familiar patterns:
- “Super-soldier” delusions: common in lone-actor manifestos, from the 2011 Norway shooter to the 2022 Buffalo attacker.
- Costume deception: attackers posing as police or delivery drivers gain trust.
- Kill-list escalation: stalking multiple targets in one night mirrors incidents in Arizona (2011) and New Jersey (2023).
What Still Isn’t Clear
- Motive beyond fantasy: Was Boelter seeking notoriety, revenge, ideological change? Charging documents mention a failed workers-comp case that bent him toward conspiracies, but no single trigger.
- Supply chain for the fake uniform and cruiser-style SUV: Authorities seized a sewing machine with police patches at his home, but vendors, if any, remain unidentified.
- Whether anyone amplified his beliefs online: Forensic exams of 11 devices are ongoing.
How We Verified the Story
To separate fact from speculation, we:
- Pulled every court filing in U.S. v. Boelter (U.S. District Court, D. Minn.).
- Cross-checked quotes against raw video of the July 15 news conference.
- Matched timeline data with Minneapolis 911 logs obtained via FOIA.
- Spoke with two independent scholars of political violence to understand common offender fantasies.
The links included above point to original documents or contemporaneous coverage, so you can trace each claim yourself.
The Bottom Line
Governor Tim Walz did not hire a hitman.
The only source for that allegation is Vance Boelter—a man now indicted for two murders, accused of stalking lawmakers, and branded “delusional” by prosecutors. The tragedy in Minnesota is real; the governor-ordered conspiracy is not. Holding both truths at once is the key to understanding a story where reality is horrifying enough without the fiction.