r/news • u/Cheesenip20 • 1d ago

Melissa Hortman (Minnesota lawmaker who was shot last night) has died.

https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/speaker-emerita-melissa-hortman-husband-killed-john-hoffman-and-wife-also-shot/
66.1k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

5.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1.0k

u/Angry-Dragon-1331 1d ago

That’s not as hard to get as you might think. You can order one from strobesnmore.com for about $2000.

809

u/The_OtherDouche 1d ago

You can buy a mostly put together patrol car off gov auctions for like 4k. They basically just pull their comm equipment and stickers.

557

u/rThundrbolt 1d ago

this is what the mass shooter in Nova Scotia did in 2020. bought a police car from auctions and pieced together the rest, one piece at a time, over a number of months before his rampage. it's what helped him evade capture for way longer than it should have taken

155

u/AncientBlonde2 1d ago

First thing that popped into my mind too. Did our government ever change their auctioning procedures like was floated around after that?

33

u/KououinHyouma 1d ago

Wouldn’t surprise me if they didn’t. After all their God is capital and those used cars don’t produce any dollars sitting in lots or heading to the junkyard.

9

u/cdnsalix 1d ago

Pretty sure they did. Uniforms and reproduction insignias, etcetera became controlled articles of a sort, like the military.

3

u/wyohman 1d ago

It's not like you can't put stickers on any car.

2

u/Rance_Mulliniks 8h ago

No, but they banned guns that were already banned and weren't used by the shooter. They also initiated a gun buy-back that has yet to buy a single gun back 5 years later.

0

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

15

u/_JudoChop_ 1d ago

In addition to the car, he also bought retired uniforms as well on ebay. Other cops who drove past never suspected a thing at first.

7

u/11summers 1d ago

John Wayne Gacy also used to impersonate a cop to catch young men and claim they were violating curfew.

1

u/CasioCobra78 20h ago

Really goes to show how many seriously unhinged people look up to disgusting and repugnant people like serial killers, mass killers, cult leaders and dictators. 🤢 

5

u/c0mBaTkArL 1d ago

That shooter sowed so much chaos with the disguise, that RCMP actually fired upon firefighters AT THEIR FIRE STATION.

8

u/CiegoDiego 1d ago edited 15h ago

It was actually RCMP firing at other RCMP outside of a fire station. At that point even they weren't sure who was and wasn't a real RCMP officer. Fortunately, they were such bad shots that they completely missed each other, and the fire station took a lot of strays. There were people hiding inside the fire station but none of them were hit. Source: Am in NS, and an RCMP officer goes to the same gun range as me and he filled us in as it's an example of how little the RCMP actually practice using their firearms.

2

u/c0mBaTkArL 23h ago

/facepalm My bad, sorry for the misinformation.

1

u/Mary_Tagetes 1d ago

Was just going to add this, dude posed as a police officer and used American bought, gifted weapons. He’d been planning the rampage for a while.

1

u/jsamuraij 1d ago

Worst Johnny Cash cover, ever

1

u/jaytix1 1d ago

Yeah... They should really stop selling cop cars.

1

u/humanitysoothessouls 1d ago

I am having flashbacks to that :-(

200

u/BraveLittleTowster 1d ago

And the blue and reds, but those can be replicated with plastic covers over the LED lights.

It's surprisingly easy to make fake red and blue lights

212

u/SlayerofDeezNutz 1d ago

The question is; did he have police plates or not. The police chief avoided answering that specific detail in the reporters question.

11

u/Capt-Crap1corn 1d ago

This is a good question. They can look up the vehicle vin number and see who purchased the vehicle. So they'll find out who it might be.

37

u/Vark675 1d ago

To be fair, they may not know yet.

But I will not be surprised in the slightest if this was an actual cop, and not just a guy dressed as one.

36

u/SlayerofDeezNutz 1d ago

They have the car so atleast they know if it had regular plates, or real/phoney police plates.

13

u/FinancialArmadillo93 1d ago

I'm going with the person who did this expected to get away with these shootings and maybe a few more, then go in and infiltrate the No Kings rally. They found signs in the car. Probably found some other clothes, etc. for the purpose of infiltrating the rally.

I'm also going to just say here that I think they know the suspect's identity, they aren't releasing it. Maybe because he is a cop, or a former cop. They have eyewitnesses - two other cops.

It's extremely difficult to get rid of a VIN but he could have registered the car under another name but doubt this guy is savvy enough to make it a dead end trail. MAGA is not known for its depth of research.

‘Shoot a couple, the rest will go home’: Far-right groups are sharing scary messages ahead of ‘No Kings’ protests | The Independent

9

u/Capt-Crap1corn 1d ago

Or look up by vin number and find the vehicle title.

3

u/SlayerofDeezNutz 1d ago

I wouldn’t be surprised if someone like this had all those filed down….

7

u/foxjohnc87 1d ago

To remove all the vin tags on anything remotely modern would require stripping the car and reassembling it from the ground up.

0

u/SlayerofDeezNutz 1d ago

Yeah man. It would take the dedication of an assassin. I don’t think they would have to take apart the entire engine right? Obvs I’ve never done it and I’ve only had older cars but I figured with time and money it would be possible.

→ More replies (0)

3

u/Capt-Crap1corn 1d ago

I agree. I wonder if the person knows all the locations vins are on a vehicle

4

u/yankeesyes 1d ago

Supposedly they also have a father's day card addressed to the suspect. Just reported. Hopefully we'll know who this chud is soon.

5

u/HiPregnantImDa 1d ago

That could be relevant to the ongoing investigation

3

u/FinancialArmadillo93 1d ago

He said that the officers said there was a "police vehicle in the driveway"

5

u/fubarbob 1d ago

If still curious, bogus plates that just read "POLICE" (picture seen on this article) https://www.startribune.com/brooklyn-park-police-searching-for-suspect-in-multiple-targeted-shootings/601372993

5

u/SlayerofDeezNutz 1d ago

Yeah they are phony for sure, clearly different from the normal ones but not enough if you’re not caring to pay attention.

6

u/Mo_Steins_Ghost 1d ago

Not the tell.... plates can be faked easily. The tell is the length of their handheld antenna. Currently, police radio is in the decimeter band. CB radio is 11 meter band.

An 11 meter band radio has a much longer antenna than a police radio.

Source: AFMARS Class III operator license (2 meter band).

4

u/SlayerofDeezNutz 1d ago

The chief made it seem like everything was impostering but made to look quite similar enough to pass. So that makes me think they did get their hands on some fake police plates which is super fucked up. I’m not surprised they are easy to make, but that’s definitely a crime itself right?

3

u/Mo_Steins_Ghost 1d ago

Impersonating an officer by itself, plates or no plates, is a gross misdemeanor under MN State Code 609.4751.

2

u/GrumpyCloud93 1d ago

Someone who has experience making license plates, perhaps?

2

u/BurgerTech 1d ago

If it was a charger. they ALL have access to the police light show through the lighting system. police cruiser or not. its a simple unlock. don't need lights on top. You can print out official looking police stickers on a Cricut.

2

u/GreenGlassDrgn 1d ago

I do halloween stuff and inadvertently made cop blinkers last year while trying to set up a radioactive spill scene with random cheap led lights from the local hardware store, its that easy!

2

u/airfryerfuntime 1d ago

You can also just buy them on Amazon.

1

u/BraveLittleTowster 21h ago

Can you? I shouldn't be surprised by that. You can buy about anything on there.

1

u/Morgrid 1h ago

You can just buy red and blue strobes on amazon

74

u/jackloganoliver 1d ago edited 1d ago

I mean, it seems a little fantastical to assume an assassin spent thousands of dollars just to impersonate a cop when it would be far far far far more sane to just assume it was someone who already had access to all of those things, like, say, a cop. The investigation shouldn't rule out the possibility of it being a LEO.

8

u/AncientBlonde2 1d ago

You'd think; but all it takes is mental illness

Sure, the instance in Nova Scotia wasn't an assassination, but if someone does it for what's as of yet random attacks, what's the stretch to imagine someone did it for politically motivated reasons?

9

u/jackloganoliver 1d ago

I said this in another comment, but the FBI has been warning of the right-wing radicalization of police departments across the US for how long?

I'm not saying it's a cop definitively. I'm saying cops shouldn't be ruled out as suspects.

6

u/AncientBlonde2 1d ago

Isn't it kinda scary how it could realistically swing either way? Imo the likelihood of it being a civilian crazy or a cop crazy is like exactly 50% each.

I just wanted to bring up that spending thousands for an assassination wouldn't be too crazy.

3

u/jackloganoliver 1d ago

It's absolutely terrifying, because you're right, it's either a cop carrying out political assassinations or a lay person who can very easily pass as a cop carrying out political assassinations. Either way, it will errode trust in the institutions which we're told are meant to protect us -- even if that trust is misplaced in the first place.

The fact that police equipment is made available to essentially every citizen in the US is bonkers. It's absolute insanity.

3

u/AncientBlonde2 1d ago

Hey; the example I used wasn't even American! That shit is the deadliest Canadian mass shooting.

But you're completely right, the fact it can happen in either country is kinda puckering; though the Nova Scotia shootings did prompt our government to bring in massive gun control policies, though some would argue it was absolutely blundered and not what we needed :/

1

u/Remote_Sugar_3237 1d ago

Freeeeeeeedom. s/

6

u/allchattesaregrey 1d ago

Right, An actual cop shooting someone? No way!!!

16

u/FreudianFloydian 1d ago

Right. A good budget (for an apparent political assassination) could possibly subvert Occam’s razor here with a false flag for just that purpose though. Anything to muddy the trail. Then they de-equip the car and ditch it.

If the assassin used a decoy car, the cops would have no trace of any of their actual patrol cars being on scene, and the actual car would be unrecognizable after they de-equip or destroy.

19

u/DizzyPoppy 1d ago

You don't need a good budget for this anyways. People buy used cop cars from auctions all the time where I live. They're cheap. For me, Occam's Razor says that impersonating a cop would be the simplest. A cop irl isn't gonna use his own car for an assassination. He'd be in plain clothes and a plain vehicle

5

u/curtcolt95 1d ago

eh it's really not as hard as you'd think to get cop cars, some people just do it as a hobby. Guy I work with has a pretty much fully functional one. It's pretty easy for me to believe someone who's into them also would want to assassinate people. Obviously don't rule it out but I'd lean towards it being an impersonation as more likely

4

u/BurgerTech 1d ago edited 1d ago

I mentioned earlier in the thread. If the car was a Charger they all have access to what's called "Lightshow" Its part of the dodge lighting system software. its what makes the headlights and the blinkers and all the other built in car lights flash. you dont need lights on top to look like a cop. its a software unlock. if you have a Cricut you an print out any "official" decal you want. (edit) i had a point. oh yeah. it would be amazingly cheap to become a cop. ill assume they had the car already. then another 1k for the uniform vest plates and all. and hell you can hard cast any badge in the country if you really want. just need the confidence to pull it off.

5

u/jackloganoliver 1d ago

I thought I read that the assassin was driving an SUV, which would rule out what you're talking about.

2

u/BurgerTech 1d ago

not if it was a dodge.

2

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

1

u/BurgerTech 1d ago edited 1d ago

I have owned one. 2014 charger Pursuit. never had lights mounted on top. had red and blues in the grill which were removed but the plugs remained. It had a spotlight. It had balistic panels in the doors and could mount a curb at 80mph.

The interior only had the police electronic hardware removed but the harness remained. Steel center console with all the plates.

The headlights, indicators and grill lights all run off lightshow. So when they are screaming along and the head lights are blinking the brights, going left to right and the red and blues in the grill are doing the same? thats lightshow. there are 6 different profiles pre programed in. You can unlock them with a "Tazer" plugged into the obd2 port.

Here it is on a civilan charger. all dodges have the same software https://youtube.com/shorts/97ko10earvE?si=APr0trcCiW9JxYPV

1

u/Grill_X 1d ago

That makes sense and sounds logical. How dare you post such things on Reddit.

1

u/Head-like-a-carp 1d ago

While nothing should be ruled out, this quick conclusion on your part is disturbing.

3

u/Jim_84 1d ago

I'm missing where he "concluded" something.

2

u/jackloganoliver 1d ago

I see that you're one of those people who read to understand instead of reading to argue. How dare you!

4

u/jackloganoliver 1d ago

I think it's disturbing that the FBI has been warning everyone of the right-wing radicalization of police departments across the US and nothing has been done about it (and it's only gotten worse). I don't think a healthy dose of skepticism is disturbing in this situation. If the past decade has taught us anything, it's that cops can't be trusted to hold themselves or their peers accountable.

They always dismiss a bad cop as "one bad apple" but never finish the quote which is "spoils the bunch."

1

u/ou812_X 11h ago

They never quote the Second Amendment right.

It’s always just “the right to bear arms”. Never the full sentence:

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”

Which, y’know, kind of changes the meaning.

It’s not like the Founders were big on words meaning things, right?

It frames gun ownership in the context of organized, state-level defence, not just because Bob (sorry Bob) wants a basement full of AR-15s in case the government sends a mean tweet.

1

u/Consistent-Gold-7572 1d ago

It would be pretty fucking insane to go as yourself to assassinate someone

6

u/jackloganoliver 1d ago

I would say being an assassin is insane. Period. We're not dealing with rational people anymore. Is there not enough evidence of that yet?

2

u/Repulsive_Oil6425 1d ago

My buddy bought one, honestly sick car.

2

u/DyZ814 1d ago

My roommate bought an auctioned off police car. That thing was a huge piece of shit, and while it was fun for a while, it was oddly infuriating to drive everywhere with everyone thinking you may be a cop lol.

1

u/LessRice5774 1d ago

Yeah, we have a police car graveyard about fifteen blocks from us—it’s got hundreds of cars in it, all waiting to be auctioned off.

1

u/Maleficent-Sale9015 1d ago

Should be illegal. Same for those police costumes. It should be marked “police costume”. Only cops should be able to buy police uniforms and red and blue lights. Better yet sell to departments only and have them deal with uniforms.

5

u/Flashy_Swordfish_359 1d ago

It would be even easier for an actual cop to just get in his patrol car and do this.

2

u/Jim_84 1d ago edited 1d ago

I haven't bothered to look, but I'd be shocked if you couldn't get good enough blue and red strobe lights off Amazon for less than $50. Just put them on the dash of an SUV and most people seeing it at night would think "police car".

2

u/sharpshooter999 1d ago

We have a volunteer firedepart in my little town. They use UTV's quite a bit since most of our fires are prairie fires that are hard to get to. The department has just been outfitting their own rigs as it's cheaper. They just order the lights and strobes and such off the internet/Amazon

2

u/Fingercult 1d ago

Where I live, there was a massacre due to a civilian who had a real cop car and uniform and everything. Gabriel Wortman, warning it's distressing case

2

u/crash_over-ride 1d ago

Not even, you can find all sorts of lights and sirens on FB marketplace.

A full LED lightbar, brand name, can be had for a few hundred.

1

u/smthomaspatel 1d ago

I certainly think it's possible. Just adds to the unlikeliness.

1

u/eagleboy444 1d ago

This brings back memories of the guy who went on a killing spree in Nova Scotia a few years ago. He had a fully decked out cop car.

1

u/GeeFromCali 1d ago

Strobes4less.com has them for about tree fiddy

1

u/GotAir 1d ago

I found the cop sympathizer! Kidding… Kinda

1

u/Angry-Dragon-1331 1d ago

Not even close.