A man suspected of assassinating a Minnesota lawmaker on Saturday and of shooting another was identified by the authorities as Vance Boelter and faces federal murder charges, among other charges, federal officials said Monday.
Mr. Boelter, 57, was also suspected of killing the spouse of one of the lawmakers and wounding the spouse of the other. After a manhunt over the weekend, he was captured on Sunday night. He was also charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder, according to a state criminal complaint obtained by The New York Times.
Before the attacks, the suspect gave four months’ worth of advance rent payments — about $220 a month — to David Carlson, who said he had been one of the suspect’s best friends since the fourth grade, for a small room in a shared house in Minneapolis. The suspect rented a room in the home and stayed there several days a week.
Here is what we know about the suspect’s actions during and after the shootings, based on information from the authorities and interviews by The Times.
The Shootings
About 2 a.m. Saturday
The suspect arrived at home of State Senator John A. Hoffman in Champlin, Minn., in a black SUV made to look like a police vehicle, with what looked like emergency lights, according to John H. Thompson, the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota. He wore a mask covering his head and was dressed as a police officer, wearing a tactical vest with a badge, a flashlight, and a handgun.
He knocked on the door, repeatedly shouting that he was a police officer, and to open the door, Mr. Thompson said. Mr. Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, answered the door, and when they realized the suspect was not a police officer, the couple attempted to push him out of the home. The suspect then repeatedly shot the couple, wounding them, and fled the scene.
The Hoffmans’ daughter called 911, according to federal charging documents. The couple were hospitalized and were recovering. Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota later credited the Hoffmans’ daughter for “heroic actions” that he said “saved countless lives.”
2:24 a.m.
The suspect then traveled to the home of another elected official in the nearby suburb of Maple Grove, according to Mr. Thompson. He repeatedly rang the door bell and announced himself as a police officer with a warrant, but the elected official was not home and no one answered the door.
2:36 a.m.
After hearing of the earlier shooting in Champlin, officers were dispatched to the home in New Hope of a third elected official, according to federal charging documents. On the way to the home, an officer encountered the suspect parked down the street from the home in the dark SUV resembling a police vehicle.
The officer believed the suspect was a real police officer and tried to speak to him, but the suspect did not respond, according to the authorities. The officer visited the home and waited for more officers to arrive. By the time they did, the suspect had left the scene.
State Senator Ann Rest said on Monday that it was her home, adding that the quick decision by police officers to check on her home had “saved my life.”
3:30 a.m.
In Brooklyn Park, officers checked on the nearby home of another elected official, State Representative Melissa Hortman, according to the authorities. They arrived to see the black SUV parked in the driveway and the suspect standing several feet from the door, according to Mr. Thompson.
When the suspect noticed the officers getting out of the car, he rushed into the house through the front door, firing into it, according to law enforcement officials. It was unclear whether there was any exchange of gunfire between officers and the suspect.
The suspect escaped out of the back door on foot and onto an adjacent golf course, according to the authorities. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s office later said Ms. Hortman and her husband, Mark, each died of multiple gunshot wounds and the office listed the manner of death for each as homicide.
The Manhunt
About 6 a.m. Saturday
According to Mr. Carlson, the suspect texted him that he had made some bad choices and might be dead soon. Alarmed by the nature of the texts, Mr. Carlson said he checked the suspect’s room and then called the police upon finding it empty.
The suspect also sent texts to his wife and other family members, according to the federal charging documents. In a text to his wife, the suspect apologized for the situation and warned her that armed people might be coming to the house.
Late Saturday morning
Police officers stopped the suspect’s wife near a convenience store in Onamia, Minn., roughly 70 miles north of the area of the shootings, according to Sheriff Kyle A. Burton of Mille Lacs County. The sheriff said his personnel, who had been responsible only for establishing the perimeter, reported that other relatives of the suspect had also been in the vehicle. State officials said later on Sunday that they were not in custody.
Two witnesses said they had watched as police descended on the convenience store. One witness, Jimi Archambault, said he had watched a woman and three children get out of a white vehicle after several law enforcement personnel descended on the scene. The other witness, Tera Robotnik, said she arrived at the store around 11 a.m. to buy coffee when she saw officers gathered around a woman. “She looked upset,” Ms. Robotnik said. “They were all surrounding her.”
Saturday afternoon
The police executed a search warrant for the suspect at the home he shared with Mr. Carlson.
Investigators also towed one of the suspect’s cars, a black Ford Explorer made to look like a police vehicle, from near the Hortman home. A federal law enforcement official said that the vehicle was found with a list of about 70 potential targets. Also found were papers that referenced the “No Kings” protest, a series of anti-Trump rallies that were to be held on Saturday.
Sunday afternoon
Around 2 p.m., the police blocked off a stretch of Route 25 in Sibley County, Minn., between 311th Avenue and 291st Avenue, and teams of officers went house to house near where a vehicle linked to the suspect was found.
The vehicle connected to the suspect and a hat he was believed to be wearing were found in the county, officials said late Sunday afternoon.
The Arrest
The suspect was taken into custody in a rural area in the county with streams and woods, officials said late Sunday night. An officer believed they may have spotted the suspect running into the woods.
According to officials, he was captured while armed but no force was used in the arrest, which was near the home where he lived with his wife and children. The home is outside Green Isle, Minn., roughly an hour’s drive southwest of Minneapolis and the suburbs where the shootings took place.
Reporting contributed by Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Jeff Ernst, Dan Haugen, Ernesto Londoño, Adam Goldman, Eli Murray, Mitch Smith and Ashley Wu.
Leo Dominguez is a graphics and multimedia editor at The Times who produces visual stories. He also reports for the National section, with a focus on immigration and the American south.
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