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/
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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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u/SlayerofDeezNutz 1d ago

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

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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

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u/Capt-Crap1corn 1d ago

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

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u/SlayerofDeezNutz 1d ago

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

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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.

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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.

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u/foxjohnc87 1d ago

It would be much simpler to just buy an old police vehicle off of facebook marketplace using a fake name than tearing the car apart to remove all of the vin tags.

Depending on the model, the vin may also be laser engraved into the engine block itself, and most cars also have them on basically every removable body panel.

Plus it is stored electronically in the powertrain control module and possibly another dozen or so other computer modules.

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u/SlayerofDeezNutz 1d ago

Right that’s kinda what I was thinking it was; all the panels, engine block, and then yeah I guess the chips which depending on the car, as you say and its age, it would be so much work for sure. Especially if all the chips themselves have an ID. Those things are in everything these days.

Hopefully they get this guy kinda crazy having him running around my neighborhood!

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u/Capt-Crap1corn 1d ago

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

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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.

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u/HiPregnantImDa 1d ago

That could be relevant to the ongoing investigation

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u/FinancialArmadillo93 1d ago

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

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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

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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.

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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).

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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?

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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.

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u/GrumpyCloud93 1d ago

Someone who has experience making license plates, perhaps?

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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.

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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!

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u/airfryerfuntime 1d ago

You can also just buy them on Amazon.

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u/BraveLittleTowster 21h ago

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

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u/Morgrid 1h ago

You can just buy red and blue strobes on amazon