Gunman on run after two politicians shot is 'military-trained with target list'
A masked gunman shot two Democrat politicians, killing two people, before going on the run in what Governor Tim Walz described as a targeted assassination
The gunman on the run after fatally shooting a US politician in a "politically motivated assassination" has military training and even wrote a list of targets, police have revealed. Large parts of Minneapolis in Minnesota were put under lockdown in the wake of the shootings, after a gunman targeted two Democrat politicians, killing one and her husband.
Governor Tim Walz described the killing as 'a politically motivated assassination.' The key suspect was named by police as 57-year-old Vance Boelter, and the FBI issued a reward of up to $50,000 (£36,859) for information leading to his arrest and conviction. Pictures were also released showing a gunman wearing a creepy rubber mask and what appeared to be imitation police uniform.
Democratic former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were killed in their Brooklyn Park home. Sen. John Hoffman, also a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, were injured at their Champlin address, about 9 miles (about 15 kilometers) away.
The suspected gunman also imitated a police officer during the shootings. An online resume says Boelter is a security contractor who has worked in the Middle East and Africa, in addition to past managerial roles at companies in Minnesota.
The early morning attacks prompted warnings to other elected officials around the state and the cancellation of planned 'No Kings' demonstrations against President Donald Trump, though some went ahead anyway. Authorities said the suspect had 'No Kings' flyers in his car and writings mentioning the names of the victims as well as other lawmakers and officials, though they could not say if he had any other specific targets.
The suspect's writings also contained information targeting prominent lawmakers who have been outspoken in favor of abortion rights. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.
Boelter texted friends at a Minneapolis residence, where he had rented a room and would stay one or two nights a week, to say he had 'made some choices,' the Minnesota Star Tribune reported.
In the messages, read to reporters by David Carlson, Boelter did not specify what he had done but said: 'I'm going to be gone for a while. 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. … I'm sorry for all the trouble this has caused.'
A former next-door neighbor in Inver Grove Heights, where Boelter used to live, said he hardly knew him but remembers his daughters because they kayaked and ice skated on the pond behind the homes.
'It's really sad for the kids, very, very nice kids,' Michael Cassidy said. He added that the suspect's wife once came over to pray with his wife and daughter.
Boelter is a former political appointee who served on the same state workforce development board as Hoffman, records show, though it was not clear if or how well they knew each other.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
20 minutes ago
- Reuters
Once known for civility, Minnesota succumbs to spread of political violence
BLAINE, Minnesota, June 15 (Reuters) - From the pulpit on Sunday, Father Joe Whalen exhorted his parishioners to avoid the kind of extreme partisanship and hate that appeared to be behind the killing of one of the church's own, Democratic Minnesota state legislator Melissa Hortman. It was a message that Whalen felt his congregation needed to hear, even at the Catholic church where Hortman once taught Sunday school, and in a state known for the political civility of a bygone era. In his homily at the Church of St. Timothy, Whalen told his parish to adhere to the Christian message of peace and warned against responding to political discourse with unkindness or anger, especially when cloaked in anonymity online. "We can choose all that by our words, by our thoughts, by our actions or we can walk a different path, and we can invite the cycle of retribution," Whalen said. "We know what we need to do." Whalen spoke one day after a gunman killed Hortman and her husband -- a crime Governor Tim Walz characterized as a "politically motivated assassination" -- and shot and wounded State Senator John Hoffman and his wife. The suspect, whom police identified as 57-year-old Vance Boelter, remains at large. The shootings come amid the most sustained period of political violence in the United States since the 1970s. Reuters has documented more than 300 cases of politically motivated violent acts since supporters of President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Last summer, Trump, a Republican, survived two assassination attempts during his election campaign. In April, an assailant set fire to the official residence of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat. Yet the shootings outside Minneapolis seemed to deliver an outsized shock to many, arriving during a stretch of days in which protests over immigration roiled Los Angeles, a U.S. Senator was forcibly removed from a press conference and a rare military parade rolled though the streets of Washington. Not only did the shootings serve as a stark reminder of the spread of political violence, they occurred in a state perceived by many - rightly or wrongly - to be a haven of civic-mindedness and bipartisanship, an impression captured in the cultural stereotype "Minnesota nice". While Minnesota leans blue in state-wide races, control of the legislature is evenly split between the parties, requiring lawmakers to compromise to get anything done. Both Hortman and Hoffman were known to work across the aisle. "Minnesota has a unique reputation, and I think it's somewhat merited. We have typically, at least politically, not been as excessive as other places," David Hann, former chairman of the state Republican Party, told Reuters. "But I think that has changed." Several parishioners said the racial justice protests following the 2020 murder of George Floyd, which were accompanied by looting and violence, had punctured any sense that their state was immune to the excesses of polarization. "The violence is here," said Carolyn Breitbach, 81, after attending Sunday Mass. "I think people are interested in their own agenda. They want to take things into their own hands and make things right." One of Hortman's last acts as a lawmaker was in fact a compromise. Last week, she cast the lone Democratic vote for a bill that cut healthcare benefits for adult undocumented immigrants -- a provision she and her party did not want -- to secure a budget deal for the state. Hortman, the top Democrat in the Minnesota House, teared up as she explained her vote. Larry Kraft, a Democratic colleague of Hortman in the House, said he has seen the rhetoric coarsen in the past few years. "How can it not? The discourse everywhere is becoming harsher and more partisan," Kraft told Reuters. "That said, I think we do a reasonable job in Minnesota of bridging that. We just did with the budget that we passed." The 2024 election ratcheted up political tensions in Minnesota as then-candidate Trump and his allies went hard after Walz, who was Vice President Kamala Harris's running mate, over Minnesota's expansions of abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. Harris won the state with 50.9% of the vote to Trump's 46.7%. Trump narrowed his margin of loss from 2020, however, suggesting a shift to the right. The last time a Republican won Minnesota was Richard Nixon in 1972. Trump condemned the shootings in Minnesota, but told ABC News on Sunday that he had not called Walz, while criticizing him as a "terrible governor" who was "grossly incompetent." Erin Koegel, a Democrat in the state House, pointed to those comments and said Trump was fanning political divisions. "He's the one who is lighting a fire," said Koegel, who attends St. Timothy, adding that she was disappointed that her Republican colleagues in Minnesota were not "stepping up to say that this isn't right." Koegel pointed to Hortman as a model of how a politician should behave, recalling how Hortman made her appointment to committee leadership positions contingent upon her promising to be kind and polite to her Republican counterparts. "That was something that she always preached," Koegel said. "And even when there were really divisive issues for debate on the floor, she would always just be like let's not be angry and mean. We need to be able to debate this civilly."
NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
'Innocent bystander' shot dead by 'peacekeepers' during 'No Kings' protest in Salt Lake City
An "innocent bystander" at the "No Kings" demonstration in downtown Salt Lake City was shot and killed Saturday, police said. Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, 39, of Utah, died in a hospital after being transported for his injuries following the shooting, according to an update from the Salt Lake City Police Department. Detectives believe Ah Loo was at the demonstration as a bystander and "was not the intended target of the gunfire." Police have arrested Arturo Gamboa, 24. He was booked into the Salt Lake County Metro Jail on a murder charge. It was not immediately clear whether Gamboa was still in jail Sunday and whether he has an attorney. Also detained Saturday were two men who were part of the event "peacekeeping team." One of the "peacekeepers" ultimately fired the shot that fatally injured Ah Loo, police said. It was not immediately clear whether those two men will face charges. The men told police they saw Gamboa move away from the crowd and begin manipulating an AR-15-style rife, prompting them to draw their guns and order him to drop the weapon, police said. Instead, Gamboa ran into the crowd, holding his gun in "a firing position," police said. In response, one of the "peacekeepers" fired three shots, one of which struck Gamboa and another which hit Ah Loo, according to police. Police said they are still investigating the case, specifically looking into the actions of the "peacekeepers," who are not law enforcement officials. Officials still do not know why Gamboa pulled out the rifle or why he ran from the "peacekeepers." Gamboa did not fire the shot that fatally struck Ah Loo but is still facing the murder charge because detectives "developed probable cause that Gamboa acted under circumstances that showed a depraved indifference to human life, knowingly engaged in conduct that created a grave risk of death and ultimately caused the death of an innocent community member," police said. The Utah Office of the Medical Examiner will determine Ah Loo's official cause and manner of death. An SLCPD motor squad detective reported hearing gunshots at 7:56 p.m. Saturday, police said. Officers found Ah Loo injured after the shooting as they were working to clear the scene and identify the origin of the gunfire, according to police. Officials attempted to save the man at the scene before he was sent to the hospital in an ambulance. Minutes later, police said they found Gamboa, who was crouching amid a group of people and had a gunshot wound himself. He had an AR-15-style weapon nearby, police said. Officers also located a gas mask, black clothing and a backpack nearby, the police department said. They then identified the "peacekeepers" wearing high-visibility neon green vests and carrying handguns. The march was one of many "No Kings" events throughout the country Saturday, a counter to President Donald Trump's military parade in Washington. It also came on the heels of days of protests in Los Angeles and other cities across the country following immigration raids.
Sky News
3 hours ago
- Sky News
Neighbours of murdered US politician stunned by 'politically motivated' attack
Why you can trust Sky News The calm of an affluent cul-de-sac, north of Minneapolis, has been shattered. Yellow tape, establishing a police cordon, now marks it as the scene of a double murder. Former state speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were gunned down in their own home in the early hours of Saturday. The gardens in this street are immaculately manicured but John Sampson is tending his again, a distraction tactic perhaps. He knew the murdered couple well. His daughter was their babysitter. "Very kind, very neighbourly, very intelligent," he recalls. Of Ms Hortman, he said: "She would know other people that were on the other side of the aisle, but it didn't matter to her. "Politics was never brought into the neighbourhood." Other neighbours remained behind closed doors, where they had initially been ordered to shelter following two gun attacks. Long-standing state senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette had been shot and wounded in their home. Police officers sent to check on his Democratic colleague, Melissa Hortman, were too late. They encountered a man disguised as a police officer leaving her home and exchanged fire with him, but he escaped, sparking a manhunt. Minnesota governor Tim Walz, who ran for vice president last year, described the murders as "politically motivated". That's something the residents of this suburban network of streets find hard to comprehend. "Nationally and stuff, things are very volatile in the political scene and I just pray that it's not here," John Sampson told me. "I hoped it would never come anywhere near here, that anyone has to go through this type of tragedy." "I feel very sad for the children and for the family left behind," he added. Ms Hortman was a Democrat but voted with Republicans last Thursday to get a budget bill through. The compromise was painful for her - withholding free healthcare from undocumented migrants. Speaking afterwards, she tearfully explained: "I know that people will be hurt by that vote, and we worked very hard to get a budget deal that wouldn't include that provision." Whatever the motivation for the murders of the politician and her husband, two children have lost both their parents.
