Fargo police have identified an ax-wielding man who vandalized U.S. Sen. John Hoeven's downtown Fargo office before Christmas.
Ax-wielding man attacks Sen. John Hoeven's downtown Fargo office
The suspect has been identified and the state's attorney's office is considering charges.
December 25, 2020 at 1:52PM
On Monday morning, police responded to a report of vandalism at the North Dakota Republican lawmaker's office.
Police shared security video of the attack on social media to help identify the man. The next day, police announced the man was identified and a detective would be filing a report with the state's attorney.
In the video, a man wearing a mask is seen casually walking up to the office via the city's downtown skyway system with an ax over his shoulder like Paul Bunyan. Then he starts smashing the walls and glass door.
The man takes seven swings, at one point pulling an entire window off the frame and hurling it to the ground, before exiting the skyway in less than a minute.
A spokesman for Hoeven told NBC News that staff discovered the vandalism Monday morning and reported it to law enforcement.
Fargo police said on Thursday that there hasn't been an arrest made, adding that the man's identity won't be released until the state's attorney's office decides to press charges.
Hoeven was elected North Dakota's U.S. senator in 2010 after a decade serving as the state's governor. In his last term, he touted having earned the highest approval rating of any governor in the United States in 2009, with 86%.
In recent years, his Fargo senate office has been the site of several protests, including those against the Senate health care bill in 2017 and against him supporting a Supreme Court nominee replacing the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
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