Violent acts and threats at some ‘No Kings’ protests around the US
A man intentionally drove an SUV into a crowd of protesters in Culpepper, Virginia, on Saturday, striking at least one person, according to Washington DC’s Fox affiliate.
The man, identified by authorities as Joseph R Checklick Jr, was arrested and charged with reckless driving. Checklick was held without bail at the county jail, the news outlet said.
Authorities alleged that Checklick knowingly accelerated into a group of “No Kings” protest attendees. Organizers reportedly said that more than 600 attended the event, with 200 on Main Street and 400 along James Madison Highway.
As hundreds of thousands took to the streets to protest Trump’s military parade and his policies, violence has cast a shadow over demonstrations.
In San Francisco, a car hit at least four “No Kings” protesters in what authorities are investigating as a “possible intentional act”.
Texas authorities closed the state capitol grounds following a “credible threat” toward lawmakers planning to attend a protest.
Early Saturday, Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot and killed. State senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were also shot, but are expected to survive.
Minnesota officials said the incidents appeared to be politically motivated attacks.
Key events
The suspect accused of shooting two Minnesota lawmakers, killing one legislator and her husband, and gravely injuring the other politician and his wife, had a list of 70 potential targets, according to The New York Times.
Vance Boelter, 57, remains at large and is thought to still be in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Officials have been contacting the potential targets on this list.
Police reportedly said that this list was recovered in Boelter’s car, in addition to a manifesto. Those targeted on the list include politicians, physicians, Planned Parenthood locations, among others, per The Times.
One of Boelter’s friends reportedly said that he opposed abortion and supported Trump in the 2024 election.
There have been a wide array of attendance estimates for today’s nationwide protests against President Trump and his policies, but one civil rights organization puts the number in the millions.
The American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement Saturday night that there were more than 2100 protest events, with over 5m in attendance, at demonstrations across the US.
“Today’s protests are a resounding message that people across the nation will not be intimidated by President Trump’s fear tactics. Americans are brave, democracy loving people and will not sit idly by as the Trump administration feeds our Constitution into the shredder — nor will the ACLU,” Deirdre Schifeling, ACLU’s chief political & advocacy officer, said in a statement.
“In just five months, we have sued the administration dozens of times for their abuses of power, and we will continue to defend our rights. Protecting our democracy isn’t a partisan issue — it’s core to being American,” Schifeling said. “We will use every tool we can, from litigation to legislation to powerful protests in the streets, to stop the unconstitutional actions of this administration and protect our rights.”
More parade attendees spoke to The Guardian about what drew them to Trump’s military procession. One parade-goer told Tom Silverstone that they wanted to “witness what the energy is like here.”
Moments ago, Trump asked his wife, Melania, to join him at the podium.
Trump was just presented with an American flag flown over the US Capitol during the parade.
Chants of “USA! USA!” could be heard in the background.
Trump’s military procession has come to a close but festivities continue, now with an address from the president.
“We love you, we honor you, and we solute your noble service to our flag and our country,” Trump said.
“Today we commemorate an event that did not just change American history but changed the history of the entire world,” Trump said of the parade, which is taking place both on his birthday and the US Army’s 25oth Anniversary.
Tensions rise in LA as police fire teargas at protesters and charge at crowd on horseback
A once-peaceful demonstration in downtown Los Angeles reportedly descended into chaos Saturday afternoon.
According to the Associated Press:
Police on horseback charged at the crowd, striking some with wood rods and batons as they cleared the street in front of the federal building. Officers then fired teargas and crowd control projectiles at the large group, sending demonstrators, hotdog vendors and passing pedestrians fleeing through the street. Some have since regrouped, ignoring an LAPD dispersal order.
‘It was a total 100% over-reaction. We weren’t doing anything but standing around chanting peaceful protest,’ said Samantha Edgerton, a 37-year-old bartender.”
There have been several types of tanks along the military parade route. The presence of tanks on Washington DC’s roads has prompted concerns about road surfaces, as tanks are dramatically heavier than civilian vehicles.
“Much has been made of the fact that tanks and other sorts of armored vehicles are going down Constitution Avenue Northwest, which, like most Washington DC streets, is not designed to handle anything close to their weight,” the Guardian’s Chris Stein reports.
Stein didn’t see “any obvious damage to the roads” but did spot “the metal plates they put down in certain areas to protect the asphalt”
‘May be dead shortly’: suspect in Minnesota lawmaker slaying reportedly sent chilling text message
Vance Boelter, who is suspected of shooting two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses, killing one legislator and her husband, texted his housemates about his impending demise.
“David and Ron, I love you guys. I made some choices, and you guys don’t know anything about this, but I’m going to be gone for a while. May be dead shortly, so I just want to let you know I love you guys both and I wish it hadn’t gone this way,” Boelter wrote in messages read aloud to the Minnesota Star Tribune. “I don’t want to say anything more and implicate you in any way because you guys don’t know anything about this. But I love you guys and I’m sorry for all the trouble this has caused.”
Vance Boelter texted roommates that he was “going to be gone for a while” and “may be dead shortly,” according to one of his housemates in North Minneapolis who read the message aloud to reporters. https://t.co/NCVjuqpHMS pic.twitter.com/OCKOjlUb76
— The Minnesota Star Tribune (@StarTribune) June 14, 2025
Some attendees of Trump’s military parade saw the procession simply as an event worth watching.
From the Guardian’s Oliver Conroy:
Wearing matching green Packers jerseys, Nijee Macklin, 38, and his two children were watching the parade from atop a utility box. They were having a good time, Macklin said, and were taking the parade at face value as a fun outing.
‘It’s pretty cool,’ Macklin, who had come about an hour from Maryland, said. ‘The parade, the flyovers.’
Earlier, helicopters, bombers and fighter craft had flown overhead.
Minnesota shooting suspect’s writings might have targeted pro-choice lawmakers: AP
As hundreds of law enforcement agents scour Minnesota for the suspected killer of a lawmaker and her husband, information about him is slowly emerging.
Vance Boelter, 57, is suspected of fatally shooting Melissa Hortman and her husband early Saturday morning. Authorities believe Boelter also shot legislator John Hoffman and his wife.
Minnesota governor Tim Walz said the attacks appear to be politically motivated.
Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota bureau of criminal apprehension, did not provide details on a possible motive.
According to the Associated Press, Boelter is a “former political appointee” who worked on the same Minnesota workforce development panel as Hoffman. It remains unclear whether Boelter and Hoffman knew each other.
Authorities claimed that Boelter had “No Kings” flyers in his car as well as “writings mentioning the names of the victims as well as other lawmakers and officials”.
A state official told AP that Boelter’s writings “contained information targeting prominent lawmakers who have been outspoken in favor of abortion rights”.
Boelter was picked for the workforce development board in 2016 and, three years later, reappointed to a four-year term. Both of the governors who appointed him, Mark Dayton and later, Walz, are Democrats, the New York Times reports.
Boelter and Hoffman reportedly attended an online meeting together in 2022 to discuss the employment landscape amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Business records indicate that Boelter’s wife incorporated a company called Praetorian Guard Security Service. While she is listed as president and CEO on a company website, he is identified as director of security patrols, per AP.
One online résumé reported by AP says that Boelter is a security contractor who has had jobs in Africa and the Middle East.
The Times notes that Boelter’s LinkedIn profile shows him as having had a variety of jobs, including a recent stint as general manager of a 7-Eleven convenience store in Minneapolis.
Some protesters at Trump’s military parade Saturday evening said that they had received positive feedback from military personnel.
The Guardian’s Oliver Conroy spoke with Joan Miles, 64, and Beth Urie, 74, who travelled 11 hours by train from Vermont to attend the parade as protesters.
Miles sported a sandwich board that read: “$30M TAKEN FROM OUR MILITARY.” Urie’s read: “IT’S NOT ABOUT LEFT VS RIGHT. IT’S ABOUT RIGHT VS WRONG.”
Although the crowd seemed to be “overwhelmingly pro-Trump”, Conroy said, Miles and Urie said they were received warmly from some soldiers. “People said they appreciated us making our view known,” Miles said.
Rachel Leingang
“No Kings” organizers have released an estimate of the turnout for today’s protests, saying the day’s events have drawn several million people so far. Several hundred demonstrations are still under way.
Protests were held at about 2,100 locations nationwide, in all 50 states and in some cities abroad.
These included more than 200,000 people in New York and more than 100,000 in Philadelphia, plus some small towns with sizable crowds for their populations, including the town of Pentwater, Michigan, which saw 400 people join the protest in their 800-person town, the coalition said.
The day’s crowd totals outpaced those of the last major day of nationwide protest, Hands Off, on 5 April.
“Today was a reminder: we are still here. Still organizing. Still rising. Still unafraid,” the coalition said in a statement. “We don’t do kings in this country. We do solidarity. We do community. We do justice – and we do it together.”
However the weather pans out, parade attendees do not appear deterred from feting the US military – or Trump himself.
Chris Stein reports that there’s a Jumbotron-style screen set up, overlooking the military parade route, and facing the crowd – numbering in the tens of thousands .
A movie about the US army’s creation – and victory over the British in the revolutionary war – was shown. After the movie ended, attendees decided to celebrate Trump, who is turning 79 today.
“The crowd spontaneously began singing Happy Birthday,” Stein said. “Then they started chanting: ‘We love Trump!’”
It’s raining on Trump’s parade.
The Guardian’s Chris Stein says that there are discernible raindrops where he’s positioned along the parade route.
Stein reports:
Summer storms are common in Washington DC. At their worst, they can bring thunder, lightning and flash floods that turn city streets into rivers. Yesterday evening, DC saw a thunderstorm accompanied by heavy rain.
Trump on murder of Minnesota lawmaker and her husband: ‘absolutely terrible’
Before departing the White House for his military parade, Donald Trump spoke about the gun attacks on two Minnesota lawmakers that left one legislator and her husband dead.
“Absolutely terrible, absolutely terrible. They’re looking for that particular man right now,” Trump said, according to a pool report.
Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were fatally shot early Saturday morning. Legislator John Hoffman and his wife were shot and gravely injured.
Officials have said the attacks appeared to be politically motivated. The suspect, Vance Boelter, remains at large.
Trump’s military parade, meant to showcase the power of the US armed forces, started 30 minutes earlier than originally scheduled to avoid rain, per reports.
Meteorologists have predicted rain in the afternoon and evening, as well as possible storms, across the region.
Washington DC was under a flood watch as of 2pm, according to the city’s NBC affiliate. The flood watch is expected to last until 11pm.
So far, rain does not seem to have affected Trump’s event. The Guardian’s Chris Stein, reporting from the ground, has not felt rain thus far.
Trump’s military parade starts
Chris Stein
The US army’s 250th birthday parade has kicked off on the National Mall in Washington DC.
Donald Trump arrived on a bandstand overlooking the parade route to cheers and chants of “USA! USA!” from a crowd where Maga hats are aplenty.
There was cannon fire, too, and the singing of the national anthem.
