Man pleads guilty after threatening St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her in wake of Minnesota lawmaker shootings

A St. Paul, Minnesota, man pleaded guilty to one count of harassment for threatening Kaohly Her when she served in the Minnesota House of Representatives on the day her colleague Melissa Hortman was assassinated inside her home.

Pao Her Lee pleaded guilty to one gross misdemeanor count of harassment. If his plea is accepted at sentencing, another count of harassment and a felony count of threats of violence will be dismissed. Lee is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 14.

Her, now St. Paul's mayor, alerted House authorities to two videos last July that she "believed were made to create anger and constituted a call of action to kill her," according to a criminal complaint. 

One of the videos included images of Hortman and references to her killing, as well as the shooting of Sen. John Hoffman, which occurred the same day. The narrator of the video blamed Democrats for endangering the Asian community and excoriated them for passing abortion laws, among other things. 

The videos were posted on June 14, 2025, hours after a gunman carried out attacks at the Hortman and Hoffman homes.

Law enforcement tied the account that posted the videos to Lee, according to the complaint. Authorities spoke to Lee in July 2025, at which time he denied having anything to do with the videos.

In December, investigators spoke to Lee again. He then said "he had no intention of harming [Her] and apologized for posts making [Her] feel threatened," the complaint states. He allegedly said the videos were "not serious and meant nothing" and "he had posted them to be funny because he works as a blogger and the other politicians had recently been killed or shot."

Her told investigators she does not know Lee, and that after she saw the videos, she "felt concerned for herself and terrified for her family," the complaint states.

"Every small thing that appeared out of place made [Her] fearful, including the gate of her residence being open, a package being delivered, or a car driving by or parking outside her residence," the complaint states.

WCCO reached out Her's office, which declined to comment on the charges.