16/06/2025

MONDAY | JUNE 16, 2025

/thesuntelegram FOLLOW / Malaysian Paper

ON TELEGRAM m RAM

8

US lawmaker killed, another hurt

o FBI puts up US$50,000 reward

director of security patrols. In both attacks, authorities believe the assailant impersonated a law enforcement officer. An image of Boelter released by the FBI showed him wearing what appeared to be a life-like latex mask, potentially an attempt to evade identification. An anti-Trump rally in Minneapolis, part of the national wave of “No Kings” protests planned for Saturday, was cancelled after police issued a shelter-in-place order because of the shootings. Flyers for the protests were found in the suspect’s car, as well as a manifesto that named numerous politicians and state officials, police said. Tensions were high across the country and in Texas, authorities said they evacuated the state capitol complex after a “credible threat” towards lawmakers planning to attend a protest there. In Brooklyn Park, where Hortman lived, authorities lifted a shelter-in place order on Saturday afternoon, saying that while the suspect remained at large, there was “reason to believe he is no longer in the area”. – AFP

Hortman, the former speaker, and her husband Mark were killed at their home in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park, Governor Tim Walz told an earlier press conference. State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were shot and wounded at their home in nearby Champlin, the governor said, his voice breaking with emotion. “This was an act of targeted political violence,” Walz told reporters. “Peaceful discourse is the foundation of our democracy. We don’t settle our differences with violence or at gunpoint.” Evans said Hoffman was out of surgery and “in stable condition” but that he had suffered “significant injuries”. The state official said Hoffman and his wife were shot first, and as police investigated, Hortman and her husband were shot about 90 minutes later. The gunman was able to escape during an exchange of fire with officers near Hortman’s residence, Evans said. Praetorian Guards Security Services, a home security company, described Boelter on its website as its

Trump hailed the United States as the“hottest country in the world”after watching tanks, aircraft and troops file past him in Washington to honour the 250th anniversary of the US army. But it formed a stark split screen with turmoil at home and abroad, as police used teargas to disperse protesters in Los Angeles and US ally Israel traded missile fire with Iran in a rapidly escalating conflict in the Middle East. Trump’s parade on an overcast night in Washington came after tens of thousands of “No Kings” demonstrators thronged the streets in cities including New York, Philadelphia, Houston and Atlanta. Trump largely avoided his usual domestic political diatribes in an unusually brief speech, and instead focused on praising the US army, saying that they “fight, fight, fight, and they win, win, win”. The display of military might comes as Trump asserts his power domestically and on the international stage. In his address to the parade, Trump sent a warning to Washington’s adversaries of “total and complete” defeat, with the United States increasingly at risk of getting tangled up in Israel’s conflict with Iran. “Time and again, America’s enemies have learned that if you threaten the American people, our soldiers are coming for you,” Trump said. He had openly dreamed since his first term as president of having a grand military parade, of the type more often seen in Moscow or WASHINGTON: A manhunt was underway on Saturday for a gunman who shot two Democratic state lawmakers in Minnesota, killing one and her husband and wounding the other, in what the northern US state’s governor said were politically motivated attacks. The shootings came as deep political divisions have riven the United States, the same day that tens of thousands of protesters across the country took to the streets against the policies of Republican President Donald Trump. Authorities named the assailant as 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter, who was still at large and considered “armed and dangerous”. “We believe he’s working to potentially flee the (Minneapolis-St Paul) area,” said Drew Evans, superintendent of the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Boelter had been spotted on Saturday morning in the Minneapolis area on surveillance footage obtained

Hortman (left) and her husband were shot dead 90 minutes after Hoffman and his wife were wounded at another location. – AFPPIC

perpetrators would be prosecuted to “the fullest extent of the law”. The Federal Bureau of Investigation offered a reward of up to US$50,000 (RM212,000) for information leading to the capture or conviction of Boelter. State Representative Melissa

from a business, the official said. Evans said authorities were still investigating the suspect’s motives, and did not know if additional people were involved in the attacks. Trump and US Attorney-General Pam Bondi decried what they called “horrific violence” and said

Trump flexes military might at parade WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump hosted the largest US military parade in decades on his 79th birthday on Saturday, as protesters rallied across the country to accuse him of acting like a dictator. Pyongyang than Washington. The last such parade in the United States was at the end of the 1991 Gulf War.

When it came, Trump stood and saluted on a stage outside the White House as tanks rumbled past, aircraft roared overhead and nearly 7,000 troops marched past. Troops and military hardware from different eras of US history passed by, with an announcer reeling off victories in battles with Japanese, German, Chinese and Vietnamese forces in past wars. The army said it cost up to US$45 million (RM191 million). But while the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” and there were occasional chants of “USA! USA!”, the atmosphere was less intense than one of the barnstorming rallies that swept Trump to power. The White House said“over 250,000 patriots showed up” for the event, without providing evidence. Communications director Steven Cheung described the “No Kings” protests as a “complete and utter failure”. “No Kings” organisers said protesters gathered in hundreds of cities, with AFP journalists seeing large crowds in several cities. Organisers said they were protesting against Trump’s dictatorial overreach, and in particular what they described as the strongman symbolism of the parade. “I think people are mad as hell,”said Lindsay Ross, a 28-year-old musician, in New York, where tens of thousands of people rallied. Thousands turned out in Los Angeles to protest Trump’s deployment of troops in the country’s second-largest city following clashes sparked by immigration raids. Police in Los Angeles used teargas

US armoured vehicles move across the Memorial Bridge during the parade in Washington, DC. – AFPPIC

and mounted officers to clear protesters who had gathered in front of the federal building downtown, the focus of demonstrations for the last week. AFP reporters at the scene said there was no disorder, but it appeared local officers were moving people away from an area where National Guard troops and Marines are stationed. Some protesters targeted Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, while a small group even gathered in Paris. “I think it’s disgusting,” protester Sarah Hargrave, 42, said in the Washington suburb of Bethesda, describing Trump’s parade as a “display of authoritarianism”. – AFP

A police officer pushes a demonstrator in Los Angeles. – REUTERSPIC