Man arrested over fatal shooting of US politician and her husband

West Australian

7 hours ago

The suspect in the fatal shooting of a Minnesota politician and her husband, as well as the wounding of another politician and his wife, has been captured.
Vance Boelter is in custody after a manhunt that lasted more than a day, law enforcement said on Saturday night local time.
'The face of evil. After relentless and determined police work, the killer is now in custody,' the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office said on Facebook.
Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt was in tears as she confirmed Boelter's arrest in a phone call with NBC News.
She said there was 'so much relief,' and confirmed that the suspect was taken into custody peacefully at 9.12pm, with no injuries to him or the officers involved.
Boelter is accused of fatally shooting state Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, as well as injuring Senator John Hoffman and his wife in a second shooting.
Officials say the suspected gunman impersonated law enforcement, wearing a vest, a blue long-sleeve shirt, and what appeared to be a badge to gain access to the legislators' homes.
Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, and her husband, Mark, were killed in 'what appeared to be a politically motivated assassination,' Governor Tim Walz said at an earlier news conference.
Hoffman, of Champlin, and his wife, Yvette, were severely injured.
They remain hospitalised, and their conditions were not immediately available.
Both lawmakers were members of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party.
Their homes are located about eight miles (13km) apart, in the suburbs north of Minneapolis.
'This was an act of targeted political violence,' Walz said.
'Peaceful discourse is the foundation of our democracy. We don't settle our differences with violence or at gunpoint.'
In a video circulating online, Boelter introduces himself as a married father of five from Green Isle, Minnesota, who works for two funeral homes—Wulff Funeral Home and Metro First Call—handling what he called 'removals.'
'Fun fact about myself: I've been in the food industry about 30 years, and that led to an opportunity.
I was invited to the Democratic Republic of Congo,' he said in the video, adding that he worked with Del Monte Foods and Minnesota-based chicken producer Gold'n Plump.
In a 2022 video posted to Facebook and verified by NBC News, Minnesota Africans United featured a person introduced as Vance Boelter during a discussion about trade and investment opportunities in the DRC.
As a keynote presenter, Boelter said he was calling from the Congo and spoke about partnering with farmers and fishermen to help stimulate the country's food supply system.
Boelter had a notebook with an alleged list of potential targets, authorities said, but he had not made threats against anyone on the list, as far as investigators know.
The list featured Hortman and the injured Hoffman near the very top, according to Democratic Party executive Ron Harris.
It also included other state elected officials and individuals known for supporting abortion rights, sources familiar with the investigation said.
Investigators have not found evidence that Boelter previously threatened anyone on the list, said Drew Evans, superintendent of the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
'So far, we have not located any prior threats by this individual toward anybody on that list,' Evans said.
'That will obviously be part of a deeper dive to really understand the motivation of this individual and any related connections—whether they might be here or in other parts of the United States.'
Authorities believe Boelter acted alone, although they are not definitively ruling out the possibility that he may have had help.
NBC News previously obtained several photos believed to show Boelter at the home of at least one victim.
Two of the photos depict a man at a front door wearing a long-sleeve shirt and what appears to be a vest similar to those worn by law enforcement.
One of the photos appears to match an image released by the FBI on X, showing a man at the door in a closer, less pixelated shot.
It appears the man may have been wearing a mask or bald cap, based on visible creases on his face.
The shootings are the latest in a string of seemingly lone-wolf politically motivated attacks.
Last year, there were two assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump during his 2024 campaign.
The first occurred at a rally in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, in July, when 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks was shot dead by a Secret Service sharpshooter after attempting to kill Trump.
In a separate incident, Ryan Routh, 59, was charged with attempted assassination after being found camping with a firearm near Trump's golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, in September. He has pleaded not guilty and faces trial later this year.
In other acts of violence, in January a soldier detonated a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas. In April, a suspect set fire to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's home over his position on Israel and Palestinians.
In May, two Israeli embassy staffers were shot dead outside Washington, DC's Capital Jewish Museum. Also in May, a car bombing outside a California fertility clinic killed one person, inspired by anti-natalist ideologies.