Minnesota lawmaker shooting suspect Vance Boelter visited other lawmakers' homes with plans to attack, prosecutors say
The man accused of shooting two Democratic state lawmakers and their spouses in Minnesota while impersonating a police officer was taken into custody in rural Sibley County, about 50 miles away from Minneapolis, on Sunday evening, ending a massive two-day manhunt that was described as the largest in the state's history.
The suspect, Vance Luther Boelter, 57, was arrested and charged with two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, and an array of federal offenses in the fatal shooting of former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and the shooting of Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, in their homes north of Minneapolis early Saturday.
Boelter is due to appear in court on Monday afternoon.
"One man's unthinkable actions have altered the state of Minnesota," Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said at a news conference announcing Boelter's arrest, calling the killing of Hortman a 'politically motivated assassination."
Authorities reportedly recovered an apparent hit list containing the names of dozens of Minnesota Democratic lawmakers, including Walz, U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar and state Attorney General Keith Ellison.
At a press conference Monday, Joe Thompson, the acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota, announced that Boelter has been charged with six federal crimes, including stalking, murder and firearm offenses. The federal murder charges could result in the death penalty, but Thompson said it is 'too early to tell' whether his office will seek it.
Thompson said that Boelter went to the homes of two other state lawmakers, but that they were not home.
'Boelter stalked his victims like prey,' Thompson said, calling the details of his alleged crimes "truly chilling.
Authorities say the attacks began around 2 a.m. on Saturday, when Boelter shot and wounded John and Yvette Hoffman at their Champlin, Minn., home. Police received a 911 call from the couple's adult daughter just after 2 a.m., reporting that a masked person had come to their door and shot her parents. Responding officers said they found the Hoffmans with multiple gunshot wounds. Both are expected to survive.
'John is enduring many surgeries right now and is closer every hour to being out of the woods,' Yvette Hoffman said in a text shared by Sen. Amy Klobuchar on X. 'He took 9 bullet hits. I took 8 and we are both incredibly lucky to be alive.
Surveillance video taken from the Hoffman home showed the armed suspect wearing a mask and a tactical vest near the door of the residence, and a Ford SUV with 'police-style lights' parked in the driveway. According to a criminal complaint obtained by the Minnesota Star Tribune, at least three AK-47 assault rifles and a handgun were found in the vehicle along with the list of names of Democratic officials.
When police in nearby Brooklyn Park learned that a lawmaker had been shot, they sent patrol officers to proactively check on the Hortmans' home. Around 3:35 a.m., they encountered an SUV with emergency lights on in the driveway and Boelter posing as a police officer as he shot Mark Hortman through the open door of the home. The suspect and officers exchanged fire, and Boelter fled. Police recovered a ballistic vest, mask and a 'gold police-style badge' at that scene.
On Sunday, authorities located Boelter's vehicle abandoned in Sibley County, near his Green Isle, Minn., home.
An officer then spotted what he believed to be the suspect running into the woods, setting off a frantic search.
According to authorities, a large perimeter was established, and nearly 200 law enforcement officers — including members of 20 regional and local SWAT teams — as well as helicopters, drones and K-9 units were involved in the manhunt.
Police received another tip that a man was running in the woods, allowing officers to hone in on the suspect. Hours later, Boelter was located by law enforcement and crawled out to surrender. Lt. Col. Jeremy Geiger of the Minnesota State Patrol said Boelter was armed, but no shots were fired, and he was handcuffed and taken into custody.
Boelter was booked into the Hennepin County Jail where he was awaiting the court appearance on state murder charges.
Boelter is a married father who worked for a security services firm in the Twin Cities area.
According to ABC News, Boelter 'touted an extensive background in security and military training' online.
According to CNN, he was also an outspoken evangelical Christian who 'traveled to Africa to tell his faith story and, in at least one sermon, pointedly questioned American morals on sexual orientation.'
'There's people especially in America, they don't know what sex they are, they don't know their sexual orientation, they're confused,' he said in the sermon. 'The enemy has gotten so far into their mind and their soul.'
The apparent target list recovered inside the fake police vehicle included figures with ties to Planned Parenthood or the abortion rights movement.
Authorities have yet to publicly identify a motive for the shootings. And it's unclear whether Boelter had any direct ties with the victims.
According to the Associated Press, Boelter served on the same state workforce development board as John Hoffman, records show, though it was not clear if or how well they knew each other.
The shootings, which came the same day of the No Kings protests against President Trump and Trump's own military parade, drew condemnation from lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle.
But at least one U.S. senator, Republican Mike Lee of Utah, is facing criticism for social media posts suggesting that Boelter is a 'Marxist,' a label often used by Republicans to disparage Democrats as communists.
"This is what happens When Marxists don't get their way," Lee posted on X with a photo of the suspect in a mask.
Lee also shared another post of Boelter with the caption: "Nightmare on Waltz Street," an apparent misspelled reference to Walz, the Democratic Minnesota governor.
At a news conference in Minneapolis on Monday, Hennepin County chief prosecutor Mary Moriarty asked people to stop spreading 'misinformation and conspiracy theories' about the case.
'Political violence is prevalent, and the way we talk to and about each other has raised the temperature to unfathomable levels,' Moriarty said. 'We cannot continue on this way."
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