The man charged with killing a Democratic Minnesota lawmaker and wounding another appeared in federal court Monday morning, a day after officials arrested him, ending a two-day manhunt.
The suspect, identified as Vance Boelter, 57, will face first degree federal murder charges, the U.S. attorney’s office in Minneapolis said on Monday, which could allow for the death penalty. He was also charged by state prosecutors 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, and the prosecutors said they would seek to upgrade their top charges to first-degree murder.
The suspect is accused of fatally shooting State Representative Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, and her husband at their home in a suburb of Minneapolis, and of shooting and injuring State Senator John A. Hoffman and his wife at their home nearby. The suspect also visited the houses of two other lawmakers the same morning, federal officials said. Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota called the shootings “an act of targeted political violence.”
The shootings rattled residents of Minnesota and left politicians across the country fearing for their safety. The attacks were the latest in a string of recent acts of political violence that have pushed lawmakers to reconsider how accessible they should be to their constituents. Some politicians, like Ms. Hortman and Mr. Hoffman, had publicly shared their home addresses.
Here’s what we know about the case.
What charges does the suspect face?
State prosecutors initially charged Mr. Boelter with two counts of second-degree murder for the fatal shootings of Ms. Hortman and her husband, Mark, and two counts of attempted second-degree murder for shooting and wounding Mr. Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.
On Monday, Hennepin County prosecutors confirmed that they would seek a first-degree murder indictment. First-degree murder convictions, which require that the act was premeditated, carry a sentence of up to life in prison.
The suspect will also face federal murder charges, opening the door to the death penalty.
During an initial court appearance on Monday morning, Mr. Boelter, represented by a public defender, did not enter a plea. The judge set a preliminary hearing date for June 27.
How was the suspect captured?
Hundreds of law enforcement officers from federal, state and local agencies were involved in what officials called the largest manhunt in Minnesota’s history.
The roughly 43-hour operation ended in a rural area near Green Isle, Minn., where at least 20 SWAT teams surrounded the suspect, officials said. Officials located him after an officer thought he had seen the suspect darting into the woods nearby.
Investigators had found an abandoned vehicle that they believed belonged to the suspect. Once spotted, the suspect “crawled to law enforcement teams” and was detained without the use of force, Lt. Col. Jeremy Geiger of the Minnesota State Patrol said during a Sunday news conference. The suspect was armed when he was detained, said Drew Evans, the superintendent of the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
“You can rest assured that we will put every ounce of effort the state of Minnesota has to make sure justice is served and the individual responsible for this serves the time for the unspeakable act,” Gov. Tim Walz said at a Sunday news conference.
What happened in the attacks?
The shootings occurred early Saturday morning in the suburbs of Minneapolis.
The police first responded to a report of a shooting at Mr. Hoffman’s residence in Champlin, Minn., around 2 a.m. After discovering that one of the victims was a politician, officers went to check on Ms. Hortman in Brooklyn Park, a nearby suburb.
Officers arrived at Ms. Hortman’s home around 3:30 a.m. and encountered the suspect, who immediately opened fire. As he moved into the house, officers heard a second round of gunshots, according to the criminal complaint document. The suspect escaped on foot, the authorities said.
The suspect impersonated a police officer during the attacks, wearing a rubber mask and tactical gear, officials said. Later on Saturday, investigators towed a vehicle from the driveway of Ms. Hortman’s home that they believe was designed to look like a law enforcement vehicle, with a license plate that read “Police.”
In between Mr. Boelter’s visits to Ms. Hortman’s and Mr. Hoffman’s homes, he also visited the homes of two other lawmakers in New Hope and Maple Grove, the authorities said, but those lawmakers were not harmed.
Mr. Boelter was taken into custody late Sunday evening, according to officials, ending a two-day manhunt.
Who are the victims?
Ms. Hortman, a lawyer who was a legislator for nearly two decades, led the State House as its speaker from 2019 to early this year.
When Democrats held a slim majority in the Legislature in 2023, Ms. Hortman helped pass bills that expanded abortion rights, legalized reactional marijuana and required employers to offer paid family and medical leave.
Mark Hortman, her husband, was known as a supportive partner and a common face on the campaign trail. He played a vital role in his wife’s political success, friends said.
At the time of his death, Mr. Hortman was working as a program manager at nVent Electric, a global electrical manufacturing company. The Hortmans had two children.
Mr. Hoffman and his wife were found with multiple gunshot wounds at their home in Champlin, Minn., about 10 miles away from the Hortmans’ residence.
Mr. Hoffman was shot nine times, according to a message from his wife that was shared by U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. He was elected in 2013; before entering politics, he served on a school board and worked in marketing and public relations. He is in his fourth term as senator and is chair of the Minnesota Senate Human Services Committee.
Ms. Hoffman, a former D.J., said she was shot eight times.
The couple’s nephew, Mat Ollig, wrote in a Facebook post that Ms. Hoffman had thrown “herself onto her daughter, using her body as a shield to save her life.”
Mr. Hoffman came out of his final surgery on Sunday, and his wife was recovering, Mr. Walz said Sunday night.
Who is the suspect?
Mr. Boelter once served on the state Workforce Development Board with one of the victims, Mr. Hoffman. The suspect had been appointed to the board several times. It was unclear if he and Mr. Hoffman knew each other, but they did attend a virtual meeting together in 2022.
The suspect lived in Green Isle, about an hour from Minneapolis, with his wife and children.
The authorities spoke with members of Mr. Boelter’s family, including his wife, and none were in custody.
Mr. Boelter owned guns and voted for President Trump last year, according to David Carlson, a childhood friend. He is a Christian who opposes abortion, Mr. Carlson added.
Mr. Boelter ran a private security company with his wife, the company’s website showed. He had worked as a general manger at a 7-Eleven, according to his LinkedIn page. The page lists him as the chief executive of a company called Red Lion Group, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, dedicated to creating “good jobs for local people,” according to the company’s website.
In a video circulating online, Mr. Boelter says he has worked for two funeral homes in greater Minneapolis. Tim Koch, the owner of Metro First Call, a funeral service company, confirmed in an interview that he had worked there.
Mr. Boelter said in a sermon he gave in Congo that he was married and had five children.
Were there other targets?
The police found notebooks with dozens of names in a vehicle connected to the suspect that was parked near the home of Ms. Hortman, the authorities said. It included the names and home addresses of politicians and their family members, and of community leaders and Planned Parenthood centers.
U.S. Senator Tina Smith, Democrat of Minnesota, said the list included her name and that of other Democratic lawmakers, including Ms. Klobuchar and U.S. Representatives Kelly Morrison and Ilhan Omar. Attorney General Keith Ellison of Minnesota, another Democrat, was also mentioned, his office said.
Pooja Salhotra covers breaking news across the United States.
The post Minnesota Manhunt, Arrest and Murder Charges: What We Know appeared first on New York Times.
