Dem Rep Tells Republican Colleague to SHOOT Himself

A gun-control sit-in on the Minnesota House floor ended not with a policy win but with a explosive allegation that a Democratic lawmaker told a Republican colleague to go shoot himself — and the video evidence to prove it remains stubbornly elusive.

Story Snapshot

Minnesota House Democrats staged an overnight sit-in demanding a vote on a gun-violence prevention bill, but the protest collapsed into a bitter personal confrontation between lawmakers.
Republican Rep. Elliot Engen alleged that multiple Democratic colleagues, including Rep. Aisha Gomez, told him to “go shoot himself” during the heated floor exchange.
Gomez flatly denied the accusation, saying her actual words were “think of them, not yourself, how about that?” and called the Republican framing a total fabrication.
Both KSTP and CBS News reviewed available video footage and could not verify the exact words Engen alleged were spoken.
Republican House leaders demanded Gomez be removed from her tax committee chair, while the disputed audio clip spread rapidly across social media before any forensic review was complete.

A Protest With a Real Legislative Purpose Behind It

The sit-in was not a spontaneous meltdown. Rep. Samantha Sencer-Mura formally announced from the House floor that Speaker Daudt had 24 hours to move Senate File 4067, a gun-violence prevention package, or Democrats would occupy the chamber overnight. The protest was explicitly dedicated to the families of Harper Moyski and Phil Fletcher Merkle, victims of a shooting at Annunciation school, and to every Minnesota family that has lost someone to gun violence. ^[2] That context matters because it explains why emotions on the floor were already running at a dangerous temperature before any confrontation began.

House Speaker Lisa Demuth attributed the bill’s failure to insufficient support during committee votes earlier in the session, while noting that some related measures, including anonymous threat reporting and mental health supports, had advanced. ^[2] Whether that procedural explanation satisfied grieving families sitting in the gallery is a different question entirely, and it is the kind of gap between institutional process and human pain that turns a floor debate into something uglier.

What Engen Said Happened and Why the Video Does Not Settle It

Engen stated publicly that multiple Democratic lawmakers told him to “go shoot himself” during the exchange. He shared video posted by another Republican colleague to support the claim. ^[1] The problem is that KSTP, after reviewing the footage, reported the video did not support the allegation as stated, and that the outlet was still working to confirm what happened in the seconds before and after the recorded portion. ^[1] CBS News reviewed available footage separately and also could not verify Engen’s exact claims. ^[3] That is two independent newsrooms, neither of them friendly to conservative grievances, coming to the same inconclusive result.

Inconclusive is not the same as exoneration. The absence of clear audio in a clipped, compressed, crowd-noise-filled chamber recording does not mean the words were never spoken. It means the available evidence cannot confirm them. That is an important distinction that got lost almost immediately once the clip began circulating on social media, where the allegation traveled at a speed that no forensic audio review could match.

Gomez’s Denial and Why It Only Goes So Far

Gomez issued a direct denial, stating she never said what right-wing media claimed and that her actual words were “think of them, not yourself, how about that?” — a pointed but legally and ethically unremarkable rebuke. ^[1] She added that she was responding to what she called shameless floor comments from Engen referencing the Annunciation parents. ^[1] Her denial is on the record, but it is also self-serving in the most literal sense. A lawmaker accused of a serious remark denying that remark is not evidence; it is a position. Without an authenticated, complete audio record or sworn statements from neutral witnesses, neither side has closed the case.

Several members of the Minnesota House Republican Caucus have confirmed to me that Rep. Aisha Gomez (D) told Rep.
Elliott Engen(R) to “go fucking shoot himself.”

The incident occurred during a Democrat “sit-in” after a radical gun control bill failed to pass.

(From Dustin… pic.twitter.com/ogRvMMAlRF

— Salty Republican Rocker II (@GGLAW3) May 16, 2026

Republican leaders did not wait for forensic resolution. They publicly condemned the conduct as unacceptable and unsafe and called for Gomez’s removal from her tax committee chair. ^[4] That institutional response is worth taking seriously, not because party leaders are disinterested observers, but because elected officials rarely demand a colleague’s removal over an allegation they privately believe is weak. The political cost of overreaching is real. At the same time, the demand for removal before verification is complete is exactly the kind of move that hardens partisan battle lines and makes a fair factual resolution nearly impossible to achieve.

The Bigger Problem That Outlasts This Particular Dispute

What happened in the Minnesota House chamber on the night of that sit-in is a near-perfect case study in how modern political conflict operates. A charged environment, grieving families, a stalled bill, an overnight protest, a heated personal exchange, a short video clip, and a social media ecosystem designed to reward the sharpest possible interpretation of ambiguous evidence — every ingredient for a story that becomes permanently lodged in partisan memory as proof of whatever the audience already believed. The actual words spoken that night may never be definitively established. But the reputational and political consequences of the allegation are already fully real for everyone involved, verified or not.