Crime
GUILTY; Home Grown ISIS Cell Convicted of First Degree Murder
News release from Honking for Freedom
By John Goddard
Three assailants await sentencing in the Chicken Land shooting |
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It was a murder trial like no other. During the trial, a suspected Islamic terrorist who according to testimony pledged loyalty to ISIS, sat next to me. The crime-scene photos were X-rated, the text messages between suspects obscene, and the police work so superb that nearly every move of the defendants was accounted for. |
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In the end, the jury found all three men guilty in a shooting spree meant to eliminate an entire family at their takeout restaurant, Chicken Land, in Mississauga just outside Toronto. One young man died on the spot. The others survived, including one man shot through the neck and another in the chest. |
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It was an unprecedented crime in Canada, an entire family targeted for execution at their workplace, but the trial was also extraordinary for something else. On the opening day, Crown prosecutor David D’Iorio rose to say that the three men — with others — had established a home-grown terrorist cell affiliated with ISIS, the Islamic State. One of the Chicken Land family members had learned about it and had mused that he might tell the police. In ISIS logic, that meant he and his family had to go. |
“An extreme crime with an extremist motive,” co-prosecutor Brian McGuire called it. Of the other terrorist cell members, said to number between 10 and 12, all that was mentioned was that the RCMP is pursuing an ongoing investigation, another astonishing detail presumably meaning they still walk among us. Well, not presumably. At one point in the trial, text messages from one of the defendants showed that he sent money to his brother in Pakistan for jihad — Islamic terrorism. The brother, now back in Canada, sometimes sat next to me in court. The three convicted killers are: Naqash Abbasi, 34, the organizer; Suliman Raza, 28, the getaway driver; and Anand Nath, 23, the shooter. All were found equally guilty of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder.
They were running a business near Toronto’s Pearson International Airport that involved a warehouse that doubled as a mosque and dawa centre, a place for inviting non-Muslims to Islam. The shooter was a convert. The young family member killed at Chicken Land, Naim Akl, had gone to work for the men and had also converted. When Akl discovered the ISIS connection, he left Islam and returned to the family restaurant. The trial imparted details I thought would never come to light. Three years had passed since the shootings, a long time. I suspected a plea bargain was being negotiated to avoid police and prosecutors being labelled “Islamophobic,” a made-up notion pushed internationally by the Muslim Brotherhood and nationally by the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM). The police and prosecutors would also have had other reasons not to push ahead. The accused men were clearly dangerous, willing to wipe out a family to try to keep a secret. The Crown’s star witness, who knew the three men, asked for and received witness protection, likely including relocation and a new identity. Two bodyguards escorted him to and from court on the days he testified. Courageously and brilliantly, however, the prosecutors brought the case to trial, and the lead investigators from Peel Regional Police sat with them every day in open court. The question now is whether, with their terrorism case, the RCMP will do the same. The date for sentencing the three killers has yet to be set, but first-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence with no possibility of parole for 25 years. I am writing a book with the working title, The Chicken Land Shootings: A Crime Within a Crime.
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MxM News
Quick Hit:
Vance Luther Boelter, accused of killing former Minnesota State House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, was captured Sunday after leading law enforcement on a 48-hour manhunt.
Key Details:
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Boelter allegedly began his rampage around 2 a.m. Saturday at Sen. Hoffman’s Champlin home, shooting both the senator and his wife, Yvette. The couple survived after emergency surgery.
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He then traveled to Rep. Melissa Hortman’s Brooklyn Park home, where she was pronounced dead at the scene and her husband died shortly afterward at a hospital.
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The suspect reportedly sent a farewell message to friends before fleeing and was later arrested in a Sibley County field Sunday night.
Sources provided this photo of Boelter from the scene after his arrest. pic.twitter.com/q4F9uPkm53
— Liz Collin (@lizcollin) June 16, 2025
Diving Deeper:
Vance Luther Boelter, the man accused of carrying out a targeted shooting of Democrat lawmakers in Minnesota, was taken into custody Sunday night following a 48-hour manhunt that spanned multiple counties. According to a report from Alpha News, Boelter was arrested in a field in rural Sibley County after evading police for more than a day following the deadly shootings.
Boelter, 57, previously served as an appointee under Gov. Tim Walz and is accused of murdering former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and injuring State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. Authorities say Boelter disguised himself as a police officer—complete with a uniform, ballistic vest, and Halloween mask—before launching the coordinated attacks early Saturday morning.
The violence began just after 2 a.m. when Boelter allegedly entered the Hoffman residence in Champlin and opened fire. Both the senator and his wife were struck multiple times. Their daughter, Hope, was reportedly shielded from the gunfire by her mother. The couple’s nephew confirmed that both John and Yvette Hoffman underwent surgery and were listed in stable condition by Sunday.
From there, Boelter allegedly drove to Brooklyn Park and carried out a second attack at the home of Speaker Emerita Hortman. The 55-year-old lawmaker was found dead inside the home, while her husband was transported to a hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries.
Brooklyn Park police officers, alerted by the earlier incident, arrived as Boelter was leaving the Hortman residence. A standoff ensued, with officers briefly cornering the suspect inside the house and opening fire, though Boelter managed to flee.
Boelter reportedly sent a chilling text message to close friends. “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,” he wrote. “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.”
MxM News
Quick Hit:
Vance Luther Boelter, a former appointee of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is wanted for Saturday’s targeted shootings that killed a state lawmaker and seriously injured another.
Key Details:
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Authorities say Boelter first shot Sen. John Hoffman and his wife at their Champlin home before killing former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband in nearby Brooklyn Park.
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Dressed in police-style gear, Boelter reportedly exchanged gunfire with officers before retreating from the scene and escaping.
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Investigators found a list of targeted politicians, including Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, as well as anti-Trump flyers reading “No Kings.”
Diving Deeper:
Law enforcement sources said Saturday that Vance Luther Boelter, 57, is the primary suspect in a string of targeted shootings that left former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband dead, and Sen. John Hoffman and his wife hospitalized. First reported by The Blaze, Boelter—a former appointee of both Gov. Tim Walz and former Gov. Mark Dayton—has not yet been apprehended.
The violence began early Saturday morning in Champlin, where the gunman reportedly posed as a police officer, dressed in black body armor and carrying a Taser, badge, and radio. Surveillance footage showed him knocking on the Hoffmans’ front door while wearing a cowboy hat and wielding a flashlight. The couple was shot multiple times and rushed into surgery. Both are expected to survive.
Shortly after the Champlin attack, police were dispatched to check on Hortman’s Brooklyn Park residence. According to Police Chief Mark Bruley, officers encountered what looked like a marked police vehicle in her driveway and a man in uniform exiting the home. When they approached, the man opened fire and retreated into the house. Officers returned fire but did not apprehend him. Hortman, 55, was found dead inside, alongside her husband. Their family dog, Gilbert, was also shot.
Police say Boelter left behind a manifesto naming 70 individuals—ranging from elected officials like Walz and Flanagan to abortion providers and Planned Parenthood affiliates.
The suspect also carried “No Kings” flyers, referencing a national day of protest against President Donald Trump. These same flyers were promoted online as part of anti-Trump demonstrations across the country on Saturday. In response to the shootings, the Minnesota State Patrol urged residents to stay home.
Boelter reportedly ran a private security firm, Praetorian Guard Security Services, which offered armed patrols for a steep monthly fee. He held appointments under two Democrat governors—first in 2016 on the Workforce Development Council, and again in 2019 when Gov. Walz tapped him for the state’s Workforce Development Board.
His apparent political motivations are under review, especially following recent controversy surrounding Hortman’s vote to strip state health benefits from illegal immigrants. Just days before her murder, Hortman had broken with her party to side with Republicans on the issue—providing the deciding vote after a tense budget standoff. “They’re right to be mad at me,” she told reporters after the vote, acknowledging anger within her caucus.
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