US lawmaker murder suspect visited other homes of politicians: Prosecutors

India Today

5 hours ago

The suspect accused of assassinating a Minnesota lawmaker and shooting another this weekend drove to the homes of at least four state politicians as part of a carefully planned attack, federal authorities said on Monday.Vance Boelter, 57, faces state and federal charges of murder after he was arrested on Sunday night following a massive two-day manhunt that was the largest in state history.advertisementHe is charged with fatally shooting Melissa Hortman, the top Democrat in the Minnesota House, and her husband, Mark, at their home on Saturday. Boelter is also accused of shooting and wounding another Democratic lawmaker, state Senator John Hoffman, and his wife Yvette, in their home a few miles away.
Prosecutors said Boelter visited the homes of two other lawmakers on Saturday while disguised as a police officer, apparently targeting more victims. Investigators discovered a list in his car that included the names of dozens of legislators, mostly or all Democrats.Boelter was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree attempted murder in Hennepin County. The county's chief prosecutor, Mary Moriarty, said at a news conference on Monday that her office would seek first-degree murder charges, which carry a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of parole.advertisementFederal prosecutors separately charged Boelter with an array of crimes, including murder, which could lead to a death sentence."Political assassinations are rare," Joseph Thompson, Minnesota's acting US attorney, said at a news conference on Monday. "They strike at the very core of our democracy."Boelter is expected to make an initial appearance in federal court on Monday afternoon.The Minnesota attacks began around 2 am on June 14, when a gunman wearing a police-style tactical vest and a "hyper-realistic silicone mask" knocked on the Hoffmans' door in Champlin, announced himself as a police officer and then shot the couple multiple times inside, according to prosecutors.He was driving an SUV outfitted with police-style lights and a fake licence plate that read "police".Boelter then traveled to the home of another state lawmaker in Maple Grove, where he rang the doorbell at 2.24 am, Thompson said. The official, whom prosecutors did not name, was not home.Boelter also visited the home of a state Senator in New Hope, prosecutors said. A New Hope officer - dispatched to the house to conduct a wellness check after police learned of the Hoffman shooting - took Boelter, who was parked outside, to another police officer and pulled up next to him.advertisement"He just sat there and stared straight ahead," Thompson said of Boelter. The responding officer went to the door to wait for additional officers, and Boelter had left by the time they arrived, prosecutors said.Shortly after, police went to the Hortmans' house in Brooklyn Park as a precaution. The arriving officers saw the suspect shoot Mark Hortman through an open door around 3.35 am and exchanged fire with him before he fled on foot out the back door, according to prosecutors.Melissa Hortman was already dead inside.When police searched Boelter's SUV after the shootings, they discovered three AK-47 assault rifles, a 9-mm handgun, a gold police-style badge and the target list, according to authorities.MASSIVE MANHUNTNotebooks recovered from Boelter's car, as well as the home where he had been staying, showed that he had meticulously planned the attacks for some time, prosecutors said.He had the names and, in some cases, home addresses for more than 45 elected officials, "mostly or all Democrats", according to an affidavit from an FBI agent. Boelter's notes indicated he had used a variety of people-finding websites to track down addresses.In one notebook, Boelter noted that the Hortmans had two children and included details about their house, writing, "Big house off golf course, two ways in to watch from one spot," the affidavit said.advertisementHours after the shootings, with police searching for him, Boelter met an individual at a bus stop in Minneapolis and offered to buy his electric bicycle, according to prosecutors. After the two went to the person's house, Boelter instead offered to buy his Buick.Investigators on Sunday found the Buick in rural Sibley County, near his listed home address about an hour's drive southwest of Minneapolis. Inside the car, officers found a handwritten letter to the FBI, in which Boelter gave his name and admitted to committing the shootings, according to the affidavit.More than 20 SWAT teams combed the area, aided by surveillance aircraft, officials said. Boelter, who was armed, crawled from a wooded area and surrendered to police in a field with no shots fired.The killing was the latest in a series of high-profile episodes of political violence across the country, including a 2022 attack on former Democratic US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband at their home, the attempted assassination of Donald Trump last year and an arson attack at Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's house in April.advertisement"This cannot be the norm," Governor Tim Walz said after Boelter's arrest. "It cannot be the way that we deal with our political differences."Klobuchar shared on social media a text message from Yvette Hoffman on Sunday evening that said her husband, John, was "enduring many surgeries right now." He was shot nine times, and she was shot eight times, the message said."We are both incredibly lucky to be alive," she wrote. "We are gutted and devastated by the loss of Melissa and Mark."