Minnesota has a Capitol emergency alert system. Could it have warned lawmakers an assassin was at large?

Ryan Faircloth and Jeff Day, Star Tribune on Aug 5, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota purchased a mass notification system several years ago to alert legislators about emergencies, but state leaders didn’t use it on the morning of June 14 when an assassin targeted politicians in the suburbs of Minneapolis.

The system, called Everbridge, is overseen by the State Patrol and can send alerts via phone, text message and email if there is an active shooter or other threat on the State Capitol Complex.

Enrollment in the Everbridge emergency notification system was voluntary before the June shootings, and the State Patrol said the system hadn’t been used for incidents outside the Capitol complex. But questions have arisen from state lawmakers and law enforcement officials over how information was communicated that morning and whether the mass notification system could have saved the lives of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, who were shot and killed in their Brooklyn Park home.

“There is no excuse for not having or not using a functional mass notification system for our legislators on June 14, 2025,” Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher said in a statement Monday, criticizing the State Patrol for not using a system that potentially could have alerted lawmakers about the threat in real time.

“The State Patrol Capitol Security Division has been working on this issue for eight years but failed to implement an effective alert program that could have notified Melissa Hortman and others of the active potential threat against them,” Fletcher added.

Everbridge was first rolled out and championed by Capt. Eric Roeske, head of the State Patrol’s Capitol Security Division, in 2017.

After Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were shot at their home in Champlin, Roeske was notified of the attack at 2:37 a.m. The Hortmans were shot approximately one hour later and died from their injuries. Alleged gunman Vance Boelter faces a six-count federal indictment in connection with the shootings.

The State Patrol has repeatedly declined to make Roeske available for an interview over the past month.

In a recent statement to the Star Tribune, Col. Christina Bogojevic, chief of the State Patrol, said the Everbridge system was designed as an “area-specific notification tool” that can alert lawmakers, staff and state employees about emergencies on the Capitol complex.

The system was not designed to share information for “off-complex events,” she said.

“Legislator notifications were handled through their caucuses and not through Everbridge on June 14 for the following reasons: Everbridge is currently a voluntary tool to receive Capitol Complex area notifications and the shootings occurred off the Capitol Complex,” Bogojevic said.

In an interview with the Star Tribune on Tuesday, Fletcher said at some point law enforcement needs to hold themselves accountable and stop using a strategy of obfuscation over who should have alerted lawmakers.

“They’re trying to stir everybody into a pot and say nobody is really responsible,” Fletcher said about the statement from the State Patrol. He added the idea that the legislative caucuses should be responsible for communication went against the notion of who provides public safety.

“We’re not notifying people about a picnic, we’re notifying them about a life safety issue,” Fletcher said. “That’s where law enforcement has to step up.”

After the shootings of the Hortmans and Hoffmans, the Minnesota House DFL and GOP caucuses told their members they must enroll in the Everbridge rapid notification system. Many lawmakers weren’t signed up for the emergency notification system on the morning of June 14.

The Minnesota Senate hasn’t yet decided whether to require its members to sign up for the system, Senate Secretary Tom Bottern said in an email last week.

At a news conference last week, Bogojevic said state officials are exploring whether they can expand the Everbridge system to reach legislators when they are away from the Capitol.

“We are discussing how we can expand that and use that for external messaging [to legislators] as need be,” Bogojevic said.

The Everbridge system is tested twice a year, however, once in the spring and again in the fall, when the Legislature is out of session. That suggests that test alerts have previously been sent to lawmakers who are signed up even when they were away from the Capitol.

________