Sen. Lee deletes tweets mocking murder of Minnesota Democrat

Sen. Mike Lee has deleted three tweets from his personal @basedmikelee X/Twitter account that mocked the shooting in Minnesota that killed one state lawmaker and her spouse, and left a state Senator and his wife severely injured.

Lee was widely condemned after he took to social media to mock the victims and spread misinformation about the alleged shooter.

In one now-deleted post, Lee captioned a photo of the alleged shooter wearing a latex mask, "This is what happens when Marxists don't get their way."

Lee's assertion that the alleged gunman was a left-wing Marxist is not supported by a single shred of evidence. Lance Boelter, who law enforcement officials have charged in the shooting, is said to be an avid supporter of President Donald Trump. Wired reports he ran an evangelical ministry with his wife.

In a second deleted post, Lee again shared the photo of the alleged shooter next to a photo of Boelter with the caption, "Nightmare on Waltz Street."

Sen. Lee deleted a third post calling Marxism a "deadly mental illness" in response to the Minnesota shootings.

Semafor reports Lee was angrily confronted by Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith on Monday over his social media posts. Also on Monday, Smith's chief of staff sent a scathing letter to Lee's staff over his social media posts.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted Lee for his social media posts mocking the Minnesota shootings, demanding that he take them down and apologize.

Lee's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Utah Political Watch.