Death toll from an attack by gunmen in north-central Nigeria reaches 150, survivors say
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The death toll from an attack by gunmen in north-central Nigeria over the weekend has climbed to 150, survivors said Monday.
Villagers were still digging through burned structures, counting their dead and looking for the dozens still missing. The previous death toll stood at 100.
Assailants stormed Benue state's Yelewata community late on Friday night, opening fire on villagers who were asleep and setting their homes ablaze, survivors and the local farmers union said. Many of those killed were sheltering in a local market after fleeing violence in other parts of the state.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the killings, but such attacks are common in Nigeria's northern region where local herders and farmers often clash over limited access to land and water.
The farmers accuse the herders, mostly of Fulani origin, of grazing their livestock on their farms and destroying their produce. The herders insist that the lands are grazing routes that were first backed by law in 1965, five years after the country gained its independence.
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CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Months of planning and dozens of names: Takeaways from the federal complaint against Vance Boelter
Heavily armed and dressed in tactical armor with a silicone mask hiding his face and a police-style badge, Vance Boelter made a convincing police officer – so much so that a real police officer mistook him for a fellow cop. The officer encountered Boelter near the home of an unnamed Minnesota public official, where the real officer was heading to conduct a safety check after news that Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife had been shot. The real officer thought Boelter 'was a law enforcement officer providing protection' for the official, according to court documents. In reality, authorities say, Boelter was the gunman who shot the Hoffmans, critically injuring both, before driving to the public official's home with the intent of shooting them, too. The interaction is just one detail revealed in a 20-page affidavit filed by the FBI. Boelter faces six federal charges including murder, firearms and stalking, and could be eligible for the death penalty, after authorities say he fatally shot one Minnesota lawmaker and her husband, and attempted to kill Hoffman and his wife. The document, released on Monday, reveals the trove of evidence authorities say link Boelter to the crimes, including weapons allegedly stashed in his car and video footage from the victims' homes. Boelter 'embarked on a planned campaign of stalking and violence, designed to inflict fear, injure, and kill members of the Minnesota state legislature and their families,' according to the affidavit. Authorities say the attacks were highly planned. Boelter possibly spent months gathering personal information about his targets and other officials, and buying supplies for his attack, they said. Here's more on what we learned about how the attacks unfolded. In the early hours of Saturday morning, Boelter went to the homes of at least four different Minnesota lawmakers, according to the complaint. He had 'the intent to kill them,' Acting US Attorney Joe Thompson said Monday. First, Boelter arrived at Hoffman's home in Champlin, Minnesota, 'dressed to impersonate a law enforcement officer' and driving a black SUV with 'law-enforcement style emergency lights.' Video footage from the state senator's home shows Boelter, with a silicone full head mask obscuring his face, arriving and knocking at the door, shouting, 'This is the police. Open the door,' according to the affidavit. When the Hoffmans opened the door, Boelter said there had been a shooting reported inside the house and asked if they had any guns. He shined a flashlight in the couple's face, 'impairing their view of Boelter.' Then, according to Yvette Hoffman, she realized that Boelter was wearing a mask – and they told him he wasn't a real police officer. Boelter shouted 'this is a robbery.' John Hoffman tried to push him out of the home and Boelter then shot the couple 'repeatedly.' Both victims suffered 'critical' gunshot wounds but survived. The Hoffmans' daughter called 911 around 2 a.m., according to the document. After shooting the Hoffmans, Boelter drove about 12 miles south to the home of another Minnesota elected representative, identified only as 'Public Official 1,' in Maple Grove, Minnesota. At the second public official's home, he followed the same playbook, saying, 'This is the police. Open the door,' surveillance camera video footage shows, according to the complaint. But the public official wasn't home – so Boelter left. By this point, law enforcement had learned about the attack on the Hoffmans and dispatched an officer for a safety check at the home of 'Public Official 2,' in New Hope, Minnesota, according to the complaint. At a Monday news conference, Thompson identified the official as a state senator. At 2:36 a.m., police found a man 'now believed to have been Boelter,' sitting in his black SUV, which 'resembled a squad car,' down the street from the official's home. Thinking Boelter was another officer sent for a safety check, the officer tried to speak with him, but he stared straight ahead and didn't respond. The officer continued to Public Official 2's residence, where 'no signs of distress' were found, and by the time other officers arrived, the SUV had left. At around 3:30 a.m., local law enforcement arrived at state Rep. Melissa Hortman's home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, according to the affidavit. When Brooklyn Park Police officers arrived to do a safety check on the longtime Democratic lawmaker, they saw Boelter standing near the front door. He began firing into the house and entered the home. Officers then entered the house and found Hortman's husband 'struck by multiple gunshots' and the representative, who was 'suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.' The family dog was also 'gravely injured.' The Hortmans died from their injuries. Boelter fled the scene on foot, leaving behind his black SUV, in which police found several firearms and notebooks. A Beretta semiautomatic handgun was discovered near the Hortmans' home, as well as a flashlight, tactical body armor vest, and a mask according to the affidavit. Records showed that the Beretta was purchased by Boelter around 2000, according to the affidavit. Boelter had 'extensively planned his stalking, murders, and attempted murders,' reads the affidavit, including assembling the police-style disguise he used and researching his targets. His vehicle was outfitted with 'police-style lights,' which were 'on and flashing' when police arrived at the Hortmans' home. It was also affixed with a fake license plate that read 'Police.' At the suspect's home, officers found a June 9 receipt, which showed the purchase of a flashlight, a tactical rifle case, two types of firearm ammunition, and materials thought to be used to make the fake 'Police' license plate. In one of Boelter's notebooks, officers found the names of three websites for companies that sell realistic face masks, 'similar to the one Boelter wore.' Authorities discovered multiple notebooks, both in Boelter's home and his vehicle, with the names of more than 45 Minnesota state and federal public officials, 'mostly or all Democrats,' according to the complaint. He also included personal information about officials, like their addresses and the names of their family members. Hortman was included in several of the lists, along with details about her home and family, according to the affidavit. Boelter used websites that 'allow users to search for the personal information of others, like home addresses and family member names,' according to the document. Several lawmakers have reported that they were included on the lists, including Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota and US Rep. Hillary Scholten of Michigan. Five firearms, including 'semi-automatic, assault-style rifles,' were found in an SUV registered to Boelter and his wife, according to the affidavit. The vehicle was found parked outside the Hortmans' home after the gunman fled on foot. There was also a 'large quantity of ammunition organized into loaded magazines.' Inside the SUV, authorities also found 'a medical kit containing wound treatment supplies and several eye masks of the kind that might be worn while sleeping.' After fatally shooting the Hortmans and fleeing on Foot, Boelter returned to a north Minneapolis home where he stayed part time and then, at around 7 a.m. local time, met a person identified as 'Witness 1' in the federal complaint. He agreed to buy an electronic bike and a Buick sedan from the witness. The Buick was later discovered abandoned on the highway, close to where someone reported a sighting of Boelter on an electronic bike to law enforcement. In the hours after the attacks took place, Boelter sent a chilling text message to family members, according to the affidavit. 'Dad went to war last night … I don't wanna say more because I don't wanna implicate anybody,' one text from Boelter to members of his family read, according to the affidavit. Boelter also appeared to acknowledge that his actions were putting his family in danger. 'Words are not gonna explain how sorry I am for this situation,' he wrote. 'There's gonna be some people coming to the house armed and trigger-happy and I don't want you guys around.' Boelter's wife consented to a search of their car, the affidavit says, where investigators found two handguns, passports for Boelter's wife and their children and about $10,000 in cash. Officers found a handwritten letter to the FBI in the Buick Boelter bought and abandoned, in which the writer identifies themself as 'Dr. Vance Luther Boelter' and says they are 'the shooter at large in Minnesota.' Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar joins CNN's Dana Bash to react to the stunning assassination of her friend Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband. Despite the 'voluminous writings' discovered in Boelter's home and car, no clear manifesto has been uncovered, according to Thompson, the acting US attorney. No manifesto is mentioned in the affidavit. 'In his writings, he had many, many notebooks full of plans, lists of names, surveillance efforts that he took to surveil and locate the home addresses and family members, relationships with these elected officials,' he said. 'But I have not seen anything involving some sort of political screed or manifesto that would clearly identify what motivated him,' he went on. 'Obviously, his primary motive was to go out and murder people. They were all elected officials. They were all Democrats. Beyond that, I think it's just way too speculative for anyone that's reviewed these materials to know and to say what was motivating him in terms of ideology or specific issues.' A longtime friend, David Carlson, told CNN on Saturday that Boelter was a conservative who was strongly against abortion access but never mentioned particular anger with the lawmakers who were shot. CNN's Andy Rose, Chris Boyette, and Sara Smart contributed to this report.
Associated Press
3 hours ago
- Associated Press
Congress is holding emergency briefings on security after Minnesota shootings
WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of Congress will attend emergency briefings this week after the murder of a Minnesota state lawmaker brought renewed fears — and stoked existing partisan tensions — over the security of federal lawmakers when in Washington and at home. The suspect in the attack had dozens of federal lawmakers listed in his writings, in addition to the state lawmakers and others he allegedly targeted. The man is accused of shooting and killing former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home early Saturday in the northern Minneapolis suburbs and wounding another lawmaker and his wife at their home. The shootings come after credible threats to members of Congress have more than doubled in the last decade, the troubling tally of an era that has been marked by a string of violent attacks against lawmakers and their families. In 2011, Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords was shot and wounded at an event in her Arizona district. In 2017, Republican Rep. Steve Scalise was shot and wounded as he practiced for a congressional baseball game with other GOP lawmakers near Washington. In 2022, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul was attacked in his home by a man who broke into their San Francisco home. And in 2024, two different men tried to assassinate Donald Trump during his presidential campaign. All four survived, some with serious injuries. But those attacks, among others and many close calls for members of both parties, have rattled lawmakers and raised recurring questions about whether they have enough security — and whether they can ever be truly safe in their jobs. 'I don't have a solution to this problem right now,' said Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith, a friend of Hortman's who received increased security after the attack. 'I just see so clearly that this current state of play is not sustainable.' Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy said lawmakers are 'clearly at the point where we have to adjust the options available to us.' The U.S. Capitol Police's threat assessment section investigated 9,474 'concerning statements and direct threats' against members of Congress last year, the highest number since 2021, the year that the Capitol was attacked by Trump's supporters after he tried to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat. In 2017, there were 3,939 investigated threats, the Capitol Police said. While members of Congress may be high-profile, they do have some resources available that might not be available to state and local lawmakers, said Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, who was a member of the South Dakota state Senate for 10 years before he was the state's governor. In the state legislature, 'it just wasn't feasible all the time' to have increased security, Rounds said. As threats have increased, members of Congress have had access to new funding to add security at their personal homes. But it is unclear how many have used it and whether there is enough money to keep lawmakers truly safe. 'Resources should not be the reason that a U.S. senator or congressman gets killed,' Murphy said. Instead of bringing lawmakers together, the Minnesota shootings have created new internal tensions. Smith on Monday confronted one of her fellow senators, Utah Republican Mike Lee, for a series of posts on X over the weekend. One mocked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat who ran for vice president last year. Another post said of the murders, 'This is what happens when Marxists don't get their way.' Friends and former colleagues interviewed by The Associated Press described Vance Luther Boelter, the man accused of assassinating Hortman and her husband, as a devout Christian who attended an evangelical church and went to campaign rallies for Trump. Records show Boelter registered to vote as a Republican while living in Oklahoma in 2004 before moving to Minnesota, where voters don't list party affiliation. Smith talked to Lee outside a GOP conference meeting as soon as she arrived in Washington on Monday. 'I would say he seemed surprised to be confronted,' she told reporters afterward. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer also called out Lee's posts on the Senate floor, saying that for him to 'fan the flames of division with falsities, while the killer was still on the loose, is deeply irresponsible. He should take his posts down and immediately apologize to the families of the victims.' Lee's office did not respond to a request for comment. Lawmakers were already on edge before the shootings, which came less than two days after Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from a press conference with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in California. Officers restrained Padilla and put him on the ground. Angry Democratic senators immediately took to the Senate floor Thursday afternoon to denounce Padilla's treatment. 'What was really hard for me to see was that a member of this body was driven to his knees and made to kneel before authorities,' said New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker. 'This is a test. This is a crossroads.' At the briefing Tuesday, Senate Democrats say they plan to ask security officials, as well as Republican leadership, about Padilla's removal from the press conference as well as their protection against outside threats. 'I certainly hope to hear leadership responding in a profound way,' said New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, a Democrat. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., who said she had been informed that her name was also on the suspect's list, said she wanted to hear recommendations at the briefing on how to improve security. 'And we can take those recommendations,' Baldwin said. 'But I think, both with the president and his administration and with members of Congress, that we need to bring the temperature down. There's no place for political violence ever. And the rhetoric — words matter.'
Washington Post
3 hours ago
- Washington Post
40 hours of violence and fear as gunman stalks Minnesota politicians
MINNEAPOLIS — Violence and fear swept through towns in an arc around Minneapolis for more than 40 hours over the weekend as a man seemingly intent on sowing political devastation killed one Minnesota state lawmaker and left another bleeding from nine bullet wounds. The attacks sparked the largest manhunt in Minnesota history, with heavily armed officers in full combat gear riding armored vehicles through suburban streets and country roads, ending in the arrest of Vance Boelter, a 57-year-old father of five and sometime Christian pastor known for his deeply conservative beliefs — but whose friends never saw him as an extremist. From a state that has long prided itself on political civility, the attacks rippled across the country as frightened political leaders worried that America's divides could cost them their lives. 'This was a political assassination, which is not the word we use very often in the United States, let alone in Minnesota' acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson told reporters Monday. 'It's a chilling attack on our democracy, on our way of life.' The black SUV's emergency lights were flashing when it pulled up to the brick split-level home in the quiet, middle-class Minneapolis suburb. The maple tree in the front yard was lush with summer leaves. The man got out of the car wearing tactical clothing, body armor and what looked like a police badge. He was carrying a 9 mm Beretta pistol. He knocked loudly and repeatedly shouted, 'This is the police, open the door.' Later, even law enforcement officials said they would have believed he was a police officer. The couple who lived at the Champlin home, Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, opened the door to a flashlight shining in their faces. There had been a report of a shooting in the house, Boelter told them. But when he eventually lowered the flashlight, Yvette Hoffman could see he was wearing a realistic mask that covered his entire head. In the confrontation that followed, he shot both repeatedly. The next morning, nine bullet holes could be seen in their front door. Police responded within minutes, after a 911 call from the Hoffman's adult daughter, who also lives in the house. The legislator and his wife were rushed to a nearby hospital. A little more than 10 miles (16 kilometers) away, security camera footage showed Boelter, still in his mask and tactical clothing, holding a flashlight as he rang the doorbell at the home of someone who authorities have so far only identified as 'Public Official 1.' 'This is the police. Open the door,' he said loudly. 'We have a warrant.' Boelter was traveling with a list of about 70 names, including prominent state and federal lawmakers, community leaders and abortion-rights advocates, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the ongoing investigation. The federal affidavit says the list was composed of 'mostly or all Democrats.' No one was at the Maple Grove home. Boelter soon left. But he had plenty of other targets. Boelter had carefully planned his attacks in advance, making notes about targets' families and conducting surveillance on their homes, Thompson said. 'Boelter stalked his victims like prey,' he said. Roughly 5 miles (8 kilometers) away, in another suburb just north of Minneapolis, Boelter drove to the home of Democratic state Sen. Ann Rest. By then, law enforcement was starting to worry about local legislators and New Hope police dispatched an officer to do a safety check at Rest's home. That officer found what she thought was a police vehicle already doing a check, parked down the street from the house. When the officer tried to speak to Boelter, he stared straight ahead and didn't respond. The officer then drove to Rest's home, and after seeing no trouble waited for backup and returned to where Boelter had been parked. But by then he was gone. An off-duty sergeant with the Brooklyn Park police was leaving the station when he heard about the shooting at Hoffman's house. ''Hey, drive by Melissa Hortman's house and just check on the house, would you?' he told a pair of officers, the city's police chief, Mark Bruley, told reporters. Hortman, 55, the former house speaker, had long been one of the state's leading Democrats. Boelter, his phony police car parked out front with its lights flashing, was standing at the front door of the large brick home when the real Brooklyn Park officers arrived. 'Moments after their arrival on scene, Boelter fired several gunshots as he moved forward, entering the Hortmans' home,' the federal affidavit states. Moments later, he fired a second set of shots. The officers moved to the house and found a gravely injured Mark Hortman in the doorway. Inside the house, they found Melissa Hortman. She had also been badly shot. Both soon died. Left behind, though, was Boelter's car, with the list of targets and at least five weapons. Nearby, police found the mask Boelter had worn along with the pistol he'd carried. Law enforcement believed he was on foot. 'Dad went to war last night,' said a message Boelter sent on a family group text, which his wife eventually shared with authorities. Police had found her by tracking her cellphone. They found her in a car with her children, along with two handguns, about $10,000 in cash and passports, the affidavit said. Boelter had apparently urged her to leave. 'Words are not going to explain how sorry I am,' he said in another message. 'there's gonna be some people coming to the house armed and trigger-happy and I don't want you guys around.' He also reached out to two roommates with whom he sometimes stayed in Minneapolis. 'May be dead shortly, so I just want to let you know I love you guys both and I wish it hadn't gone this way,' Boelter wrote, according to Paul Schroeder, who has known Boelter for years. Friends said Boelter had been struggling financially in recent years. In 2023, he began working for a transport service for a funeral home, mostly picking up bodies from assisted-living facilities. That job ended about four months ago. Within hours of the Hortman shooting, hundreds of police officers, sheriff deputies and FBI agents were roaming the streets near the scene. Cellphones in the area pinged an alert, urging people near the Hortmans' neighborhood to take shelter. 'Police are still looking for a suspect in multiple targeted shootings who is armed and dangerous,' the alert said, giving a description of Boelter. 'Do not approach.' A series of roadblocks was also set up, with law enforcement searching every vehicle as it left, fearing Boelter could try to escape by hiding in a car. Carrying two duffel bags, Boelter approached a man he didn't know at a Minneapolis bus stop roughly 7 miles (11 kilometers) from the Hortmans' home and asked to purchase his electric bike. After taking the bus together to the man's home, Boelter agreed to buy the bike and the man's Buick sedan. They then drove the Buick to a bank branch in nearby Robbinsdale, where Boelter, who can be seen in security footage wearing a cowboy hat, withdrew $2,200, emptying his bank account. He paid the man $900. Law enforcement received a report of someone riding an e-bike on a country road outside the small town of Green Isle, about an hour from downtown Minneapolis. The cyclist was not found, but Boelter's family lives not far away, in a sprawling 3,800-square-foot house they bought in 2023 for more than $500,000. The Buick was found, abandoned, near where the cyclist had been spotted. Worried about explosives, law enforcement initially used a robot to check the car. Inside, they found the cowboy hat that Boelter appeared to be wearing in the bank. There was also a handwritten letter addressed to the FBI in which Boelter said he was 'the shooter at large in Minnesota involved in the 2 shootings.' Law enforcement set up a large perimeter near Green Isle after a police officer thought he'd seen Boelter running into the woods. Twenty tactical teams were called in for an intensive search. For hours, heavily armed men, some with dogs, walked the roads and fields of rural Sibley County. A helicopter was called in to help. Boelter was spotted shortly before nightfall, and officers surrounded him. He soon surrendered , crawling to officers who handcuffed him and took him into custody. Boelter now faces a series of state charges, including murder and attempted murder. Federal prosecutors announced they had charged him with murder and stalking, which could result in a death sentence if he is convicted. At a federal court hearing Monday in St. Paul, Boelter said he could not afford an attorney. A federal defender was appointed to represent him. He was ordered held without bail ahead of a court appearance next week. Across the U.S., local and state politicians rushed to scrub home addresses from websites and began debating whether security should now be provided for politicians like state senators. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar shared a text from Yvette Hoffman, whose recovery came quicker than her husband's. 'John is enduring many surgeries right now and is closer every hour to being out of the woods,' Yvette Hoffman said Saturday in a text that Klobuchar posted on social media. 'He took 9 bullet hits. I took 8 and we are both incredibly lucky to be alive. We are gutted and devastated by the loss of Melissa and Mark.' ___ Associated Press reporters Alanna Durkin Richer, Michael Biesecker, Mike Balsamo and Eric Tucker in Washington; Jim Mustian in New York; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas; Rio Yamat in Las Vegas; Giovanna Dell'Orto in Champlin; Obed Lamy in St. Paul and Margery Beck in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report. ___ This story was compiled from federal and state legal documents, interviews with law enforcement officials, political officials and people who knew Boelter and the victims.
