At FBI Oversight Hearing, Klobuchar Praises Law Enforcement Response in Recent Shootings

WASHINGTON - At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) commended the local law enforcement and first responders who quickly responded to the assassination of Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman and the attempted assasination of Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette Hoffman, as well as the shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church. Klobuchar recognized the tragic loss of eight-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski, and noted that the first officer was on the scene just four minutes after the first 9-1-1 call and more than 20 people were transported to hospitals within 14 minutes.

"I did want to focus on one local law enforcement moment that I'm not sure has made with all the news going on in Minnesota. When the first 9-1-1 call - and you've heard about other places where this waited and waited - the first 9-1-1 call was made at 8:27 AM. The first officer was on the scene just 4 minutes later, local Minneapolis police, at 8:31 AM," said Klobuchar. "Chief O'Hara shared with me the actual numbers - listen to this: over 20 people were in ambulances in just 14 minutes, all of them, after the police got on the scene, 14 minutes after the first call, tourniquets, stretchers, and they got them all to Hennepin County Medical Center or Minneapolis Children's Hospital. And I think it is worth looking at what happened there because one of the dads whose daughter was severely injured, still in the hospital, that I met on Sunday, told me that there is absolutely no way his beautiful daughter would have survived if police hadn't been there."

A rough transcript of Klobuchar's opening remarks and related questions are below, and the video can be found here.

Senator Klobuchar: Mr. Chair, we have seen too much political violence in this country. We all know that.

Just last week, Director, your friend Charlie Kirk was gunned down on a college campus. I'm sorry for your loss. In Minnesota, only two months ago, a madman took the life of my friends, Melissa and Mark Hortman, and shot Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, a combined 17 times. And evidence indicates that he would have killed a lot more if law enforcement hadn't intervened.

Just last month in my state, we were again shook to the core when little kids were shot down through stained glass windows in Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis. And while the victims weren't politicians in this case, they were six-year-olds and eight-year-olds, the manifesto that the shooter left behind was political. But in the words of your own federal law enforcement, this person was an all-purpose hater. He went after Blacks, Hispanics, the President, Muslims, Jews, nearly everyone. And this happened during the first Mass of the year for these kids, they were excited to see their friends meet their new teachers, and two children, eight-year-old Fletcher Merkel, 10-year-old Harper Moyski,? were murdered. 21 other people injured, some of the kids, 18 kids, severely.

Fletcher was just starting third grade. He loved his family, his friends. He loved fishing and cooking. In his dad's words, "any sport he was allowed to play."

Harper, the other child, we celebrated her life this Sunday, thousands of people. Her parents described her as bright, joyful, and a deeply loved 10-year-old whose laughter, kindness, and spirit touched everyone that she knew. We've heard the words of young children who were saved because 12-year-olds laid on top of them, or a kid with disabilities who was paralyzed, whose teacher pulled him out of the wheelchair, threw him under the pew, and laid on top of him.

We do thank the local FBI Director and the local US Attorney's Office for their work in both of these cases, the Hortman case and this. But I did want to focus on one local law enforcement moment that I'm not sure has made with all the news going on in Minnesota. When the first 9-1-1 call - and you've heard about other places where this waited and waited - the first 9-1-1 call was made at 8:27 AM. The first officer was on the scene just 4 minutes later, local Minneapolis police, at 8:31 AM.

Chief O'Hara shared with me the actual numbers - listen to this: over 20 people were in ambulances in just 14 minutes, all of them, after the police got on the scene, 14 minutes after the first call, tourniquets, stretchers, and they got them all to Hennepin County Medical Center or Minneapolis Children's Hospital. And I think it is worth looking at what happened there because one of the dads whose daughter was severely injured, still in the hospital that I met on Sunday, told me that there is absolutely no way his beautiful daughter would have survived if police hadn't been there.

So it is worth looking at for all of us. So my focus, on behalf of these parents, because I promised I would do this on Sunday, was just to figure out how we can do anything to stop this from happening again. So expanded background checks, ghost gun bans - every shooting is different. Raising the minimum age to purchase assault weapons, even if we're not going to ban them, I favor banning them. But that's one idea that's out there.

With so many of these shootings, people are 18, 19, 20, 21, the one at Annunciation Church was 23. Both shooters in Uvalde and Buffalo had just turned 18 when they purchased the assault weapon. I'm not saying any one of these things would prevent every single shooting, but I really ask everyone to look at these.

We also need to tackle social media, and I really did appreciate Senator Graham's questions. I think we have to protect free speech and not engage in censorship. But for years, I have supported repealing Section 230, which was made when these companies were little companies starting up in garages. And I think it is one way to get at making this better environment online and preventing violence.

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