A man suspected of assassinating a Minnesota lawmaker on Saturday and of shooting another was identified by the authorities as Vance Boelter, 57. He is also suspected of killing the spouse of one of the lawmakers and wounding the spouse of the other.
After a manhunt, Mr. Boelter was taken into custody, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota said at a late Sunday night news conference. He was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder, according to a criminal complaint obtained by The New York Times.
Before the attacks, the suspect emptied his bank account, according to a federal law enforcement official. The suspect also 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, as the manhunt by law enforcement officials ended on Sunday night with his arrest.
The Shootings
About 2 a.m. Saturday
Officers from the Champlin Police Department responded to a report of gunfire in Champlin, Minn., at the home of State Senator John A. Hoffman. They found Mr. Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, wounded by gunshots. The couple was transported to a nearby hospital.
Governor Walz credited the Hoffmans’ daughter for “heroic actions” that he said “saved countless lives.” Charging documents indicate that a child of the Hoffmans called 911.
3:30 a.m.
Officers from Brooklyn Park, a neighboring suburb, also assisted in responding to the shooting in Champlin, according to Chief Mark Bruley of the Brooklyn Park Police. He added that his officers decided to check on the home of a nearby elected official in the area, State Representative Melissa Hortman. They arrived at her home to see a vehicle that looked like a police vehicle, complete with emergency lights, parked in the driveway.
3:35 a.m.
A man dressed as a police officer — with a badge and a Taser — exited the front door of the Hortman home, according to Chief Bruley. The man immediately opened fire upon being confronted by the responding officers, he said. The officers returned fire before the man fled back into the house and escaped out the back door on foot onto an adjacent golf course, Chief Bruley said.
About 3:50 a.m.
According to Chief Bruley, officers looked into the entryway of the home to see Mark Hortman, Ms. Hortman’s husband, wounded by gunshot. They dragged him out of the home and attempted lifesaving measures, but he was pronounced dead soon after.
After 3:50 a.m.
More police officers, including a SWAT team, arrived and surrounded the Hortman residence, according to Chief Bruley. Officers then used a drone to explore the home and identified Ms. Hortman’s body inside before entering. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s office said Ms. Hortman and her husband each died of multiple gunshot wounds.
The Manhunt
6:03 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.
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 Sibley County, a largely rural area southwest of Minneapolis, officials said a news conference late Sunday afternoon.
Sunday night
The suspect was taken into custody in a rural area with streams and woods, officials said at a late Sunday night news conference. 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.
The sheriff of Ramsey County, Minn., Bob Fletcher, posted a photo on Facebook of the suspect being taken into custody in a field. The photo appears to be altered, with the officers’ faces obscured.
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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