CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Carolina Panthers second-year outside linebacker Nic Scourton was carted off the practice field with a right knee injury during the first day of training camp on Thursday.
Panthers head coach Dave Canales said he does not know the extent of the injury. He said Scourton will have an MRI exam.
“I don't want to speculate,” Canales said. “I'm hoping for the best.”
Scourton, a second-round draft pick in 2024 out of Texas A&M, went down on a wet field late in practice during team drills. Players immediately gathered around him on one knee.
Scourton held his hand over his face as he was led into an awaiting cart.
As he was leaving the field, the cart stopped and Canales and every player on the roster individually walked over to hug Scourton before he was taken to the training room.
“They care about each other,” Canales said. “Whenever you’re in a group of people doing something hard together, it has a way of creating a special bond. Between all the workouts and going through a full season and an offseason and all that, it means something to the guys. I’m proud of that.”
Scourton had an outstanding rookie season for the Panthers, playing in 17 games with eight starts. He finished the season with 47 tackles, five sacks and nine quarterback hits while developing into a key starter for the NFL's 15th-ranked defense.
Scourton appeared to be engaged in a block with an offensive lineman at the time of the injury.
Panthers quarterback Bryce Young was near the play at the time, but said he did not see what happened.
He praised Scourton for how quickly he has developed into a leader on defense.
“It's been really cool to see him come into his own," Young said. “He has a super-high motor, has great energy. He's fun to be around. He turns into that different competitor when he's on the field. We feel that during practice. He has raised the level of (intensity at) practice many times. We don't know anything yet (on the injury), but we're just praying for him.”
Canales said the team had enough players to go without Scourton if the injury is bad.
“We've got depth,” Canales said. “That's why we keep bringing in guys. ... If it comes to that (a serious injury) we have guys that we trust.”
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Carolina Panthers linebacker Nic Scourton (11) walks to the NFL football team's training camp Thursday, July 23, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Scott Kinser)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Friends and family of Minnesota Democratic lawmaker Melissa Hortman said the man who killed her failed to eliminate her spirit and her legacy, but some expressed their enduring fear as well as their fury at the man who changed their lives forever.
Fellow lawmakers and survivors of the shooting spoke Thursday at the sentencing hearing for Vance Boelter, the man who pleaded guilty last month to federal charges related to the killing of House Speaker Hortman and her husband Mark, as well as critically wounding state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette. They described the lasting fear and physical harm that Boelter caused.
Boelter, 59, agreed to plead guilty in June, almost a year after the Minneapolis-area attacks so federal prosecutors would not seek the death penalty; instead, he agreed to serve two consecutive life sentences, plus 40 years. Mark Hortman's father and siblings voiced their anger that he would not face the death penalty.
Wearing orange prison garb and shackled at the ankles, Boelter sat extremely still, never looking at the survivors and family members as they read their victim impact statements.
In court Thursday, Sen. Hoffman said he and his family are constantly reminded of the extraordinary violence of that night, even in the mundane details of day-to-day life. He said they don't receive mail at home anymore, they installed solid steel doors, and that they have changed how they do everyday tasks because of their injuries.
“The defendant looked me in the eyes and pulled the trigger. The defendant looked at my wife and chose to do the same,” Hoffman said. "My wife and I now live with injuries. We live with our bodies remembering the gunfire.”
Yvette Hoffman said she has been too traumatized to work since the attack in their home, and that she sees a therapist weekly.
“I fought him, your Honor, with everything I had. And I finally got him out of our home. I will never forget looking down and watching my blood slowly stream down that white washing machine as I felt myself sinking to the floor,” she said, barely holding back tears as she spoke. "We always have an escape plan now. This isn’t how people should live.”
Boelter admitted in court in June that he spent months identifying and stalking his targets, before driving to their homes in the middle of the night, disguised as a police officer, with the intention of killing them. The killings sparked the largest police search in state history.
Democratic State Rep. Kristin Bahner was one of two other legislators whose homes Boelter visited that night, but she and her family were on vacation. Bahner said the shootings had left her shaken.
“I could not fathom why I was spared and (Hortman) was not,” she said. ”You failed because I carry her with me. In my mind and in my heart, she guides me.”
Mark Hortman's parents and siblings spoke of their anger Thursday, both at the man who killed him and of the justice system.
“It will not offer me peace of mind that he will have room and board provided for the rest of his life, paid for by my tax dollars,” said Lisa Hortman Bean, Mark's sister.
Melissa Hortman's mother and father, and the Hortman's children changed the tone of the statements when they spoke Thursday, remembering them as attentive, loving parents and grandparents and people who impacted thousands of lives.
“It is impossible to realize the damage that has been done not only to our family, but to our society,” said Melissa's father Harold Haluptzok, who repeatedly referred to her as his ”little girl."
"I wish the perpetrator would have sat down and talked to Melissa about his political positions... if only he did that before he decided to kill them,” Haluptzok added.
Boelter went to Hortman's home, wearing a tactical uniform and mask, about 3:30 a.m. on June 14, 2025. He rang the doorbell while shouting he was a police officer doing a welfare check, according to court documents.
Mark Hortman answered the door. Boelter gave him a fake name and badge number before requesting he summon Melissa Hortman to the door as well. He shot Mark Hortman multiple times before pushing into the house and shooting the lawmaker as she fled upstairs. Melissa and Mark Hortman were killed.
Boelter had already visited the Hoffmans' home that night, shooting and critically injuring the senator and his wife, according to police and court documents. Court documents said Boelter also went to two other lawmakers' houses that night. In one instance, no one answered the door, and in the other, Boelter was spooked when a police officer approached him in his car believing he was another officer.
Boelter also faces state charges, including two counts of murder, four counts of attempted murder, impersonating a police officer and animal cruelty. The Hortman family’s golden retriever was gravely injured in the shootings and had to be euthanized. Hoffman and his family filed a personal injury lawsuit against Boelter in April.
Lauer reported from Philadelphia.
FILE - Members of law enforcement agencies investigate near a vehicle suspected to belong to shooting suspect, Vance Boelter, June 15, 2025, in Belle Plaine, Minn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)
FILE - Bullet holes mark the front door of the house of Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife who were shot earlier in the day on June 14, 2025, in Champlin, Minn. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn, File)
FILE - Armed FBI agents search for an active shooter, sweeping a neighborhood adjacent to the home of Minnesota DFL State Representative Melissa Hortman, in Brooklyn Park, Minn., June 14, 2025. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP, File)
FILE - Pictures of Mark and Melissa Hortman are set up inside the sanctuary at the Basilica of St. Mary's during funeral services for Mark and Melissa Hortman in Minneapolis, Saturday, June 28, 2025. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP, Pool, File)
FILE - This photo made available by the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office shows Vance Luther Boelter, the man charged with killing the top Democrat in the Minnesota House and her husband, and wounding a state senator and his wife, as he was arrested on June 15, 2025. (Ramsey County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)
