Cops end 2-day hunt, arrest suspect in Minnesota lawmakers’ shooting
MINNEAPOLIS—A massive two-day manhunt ended on Sunday with the arrest of Vance Boelter, 57, for allegedly killing a Minnesota Democratic state lawmaker and her husband while posing as a police officer, Gov, Tim Walz said.
Boelter allegedly shot dead Melissa Hortman, the top Democrat in the Minnesota House, and her husband, Mark, in their home on Saturday—a crime Walz characterized as a “politically motivated assassination.”
Authorities said Boelter also allegedly shot and wounded another Democratic lawmaker, state Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife Yvette at their home a few miles away.
“This cannot be the norm. It cannot be the way that we deal with our political differences. Now is the time for us to recommit to the core values of this country, and each and every one of us can do it,” said Walz, who recently urged fellow Democrats to be “a little meaner” in dealing with President Donald Trump, whom he called a “bully” a “tyrant” and a “cruel” man.
Walz said Hoffman, who had been hit with nine bullets, came out of his final surgery and was moving towards recovery.
Second-degree murder
Boelter has links to evangelical ministries and claimed to be a security expert with experience in the Gaza Strip and Africa, according to online postings and public records reviewed by Reuters.
Boelter was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree attempted murder, the criminal complaint showed.
Three of those charges are punishable with jail terms of up to 40 years, according to the complaint unsealed on Sunday.
Boelter impersonated a police officer when he carried out the shootings, wearing an officer’s uniform and driving a Ford SUV with police-style lights, according to a Hennepin County criminal complaint unsealed on Sunday.
Boelter fled on foot early on Saturday when officers confronted him at Hortman’s Brooklyn Park home.
Police found in his SUV three AK-47 assault rifles, a 9-mm handgun, and a list of other public officials including their addresses, the criminal complaint showed.
Tip off
Working on a tip that Boelter was near his home in the city of Green Isle, more than 20 Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams combed the area, aided by surveillance aircraft, officials said. Boelter was armed but surrendered with no shots fired.
“The suspect crawled to law enforcement teams and was placed under arrest,” Lt. Col. Jeremy Geiger of the Minnesota State Patrol told the briefing. “The suspect was taken into custody without any use of force.”
The operation to capture Boelter, drawing on the work of hundreds of detectives and a wide range of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, was the largest manhunt in state history, Brooklyn Park police Chief Mark Bruley said.
“Now begins the hard work of looking at what the motive is,” Bruley said.
The killing was the latest episode of high-profile United States political violence.
Such incidents range from a 2022 attack on former Democratic United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband at their home, to two assassination bids on Trump last year and an arson attack at Pennsylvania Gov, Josh Shapiro’s house in April.
