Manhunt underway for suspect in killing of Minnesota lawmaker
MINNEAPOLIS—Minnesota Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) kept up a massive manhunt on Saturday evening for a gunman posing as a police officer who killed a senior Democratic state assembly member and her husband in what Gov. Tim Walz called a “politically motivated assassination.”
The suspect, identified as 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter, also allegedly shot and wounded a second lawmaker and his spouse, according to law enforcement officials and the FBI.
He fled on foot after firing at police at the home of slain former Minnesota House speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark.
Law enforcement officials said the suspect abandoned a vehicle that looked like a police SUV, in which officers found a “manifesto” and a target list of other politicians and institutions.
Boelter should be considered armed and dangerous and is believed to still be in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans told a news briefing, adding that it was too soon to determine a motive.
The suspect had 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.
‘Dead soon’
Boelter also described himself online as a former employee of food service companies and was appointed in 2016 by Walz’ predecessor to the advisory Governor’s Workforce Development Board, according to state records.
David Carlson, 59, told Reuters that he has been sharing a house in Minneapolis with Boelter for a little more than a year and last saw him on Friday night. Then about 6 a.m. on Saturday, he received a text from Boelter.
“He said that he might be dead soon,” said Carlson, who called police.
The list found in the vehicle abandoned by the suspect contained about 70 names, including abortion providers, and lawmakers in Minnesota and other states, CNN reported, citing law enforcement sources. Officials said the Hortmans and the other victims—state Senator John Hoffman and his wife—were on the list.
ABC News, also citing law enforcement officials, said the list included dozens of Minnesota Democrats including Walz, US Representative Ilhan Omar, Senator Tina Smith and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Melissa Hortman, a 55-year-old mother of two who had served 20 years in the Minnesota House of Representatives, was remembered by Walz as someone with “grace, compassion and tirelessness.”
Cautious optimism
Walz, who was Kamala Harris’ Democratic vice presidential running mate in last year’s election, said the gunman went to the Hortmans’ residence after shooting the Hoffmans multiple times in their home in the nearby town of Champlin.
The Hoffmans underwent surgery, Walz said, adding that he was “cautiously optimistic” that they would survive “this assassination attempt.”
“This was an act of targeted political violence,” he said. “Peaceful discourse is the foundation of our democracy. We don’t settle our differences with violence or at gunpoint.”
The shootings prompted reactions of shock and horror from Republican and Democratic politicians across the country and calls for dialing back increasingly divisive political rhetoric.
The incident comes on the heels of a heated hearing in Congress on Thursday, in which Walz and two other Democratic governors defended their states’ policies to maintain sanctuary for undocumented immigrants, drawing attacks from Republicans who support Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown.
