The suspect wanted in the slaying of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband, as well as in the injury shooting of a state senator and his wife, was found Sunday night armed and crawling in a field in a sparsely populated stretch of Minnesota, authorities said.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced Vance Boelter’s capture at a news conference after saying Saturday that the suspect’s alleged crimes included a “politically motivated assassination.” Despite being armed, authorities said, Boelter was taken into custody without incident and no injuries were reported.
Law enforcement numbering nearly 200 — including members of 20 regional and local SWAT teams — descended on eastern Sibley County, about an hour outside Minneapolis, starting Sunday morning. But the suspect may have taken advantage of fiercely rural terrain to remain hidden most of the day, authorities said.
The governor expressed relief that the suspect was apprehended after collaborations from federal, state and local law enforcement that concluded when Minnesota State Patrol officers put their handcuffs on him.
Sleepless nights during manhunt
“After a two-day manhunt, two sleepless nights, law enforcement have apprehended” the alleged shooter, Walz said.
“This cannot be the norm. It cannot be the way that we deal with our political differences,” he added.
Authorities allege Boelter tried to kill state Sen. John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, at their home in Champlin at roughly 2 a.m. Saturday before fatally shooting state Rep. Melissa Hortman, a 55-year-old Democrat, and her husband, Mark, in nearby Brooklyn Park.
In a statement released by the Hoffman family following Boelter’s arrest, Yvette Hoffman thanked law enforcement for the suspect’s capture.
“John and I are both incredibly lucky to be alive,” the statement read. “We continue our healing journey and are humbled by the outpouring of love and support our family has received from across the state and our nation.”
Authorities said Boelter left behind a notebook with a hit list of other politicians as well as those who have been vocal in support of abortion rights. The names included those of Hoffman and Hortman near the very top, said Democratic Party executive Ron Harris, a fellow Minnesotan.
Late Sunday night, Drew Evans, superintendent of the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said the list also included politicians based in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska and Iowa.
Boelter emerged as the suspect as police covered locations familiar to him and spoke to people associated with the married 57-year-old.
The hunt was jolted into renewed action about 6:30 on Sunday morning when his car and cowboy hat were found not far from his residence in Green Isle in the eastern portion of Sibley County, authorities said.
A Buick Regal associated with the suspect as well as his cowboy hat, found at the side of a road in a wooded area about three miles from the residence, drew a massive manhunt, authorities said.
A tense ten hours in the hunt
But the trail seemed to get cold through nightfall as there was no sign of the suspect for more than ten hours despite evidence he had spoken to people while on the run, Evans, the criminal apprehension superintendent, said at a news conference earlier in the day.
Boelter remained somewhat of a mystery even as authorities spoke to his wife and relatives following a Sunday traffic stop, during which they cooperated fully with investigators, Evans said.
There was no evidence, he said, the suspect ever previously threatened the lawmakers he shot or anyone else on that list.
Warrants for his arrest included a state warrant alleging he committed second-degree murder and a federal warrant alleging he was on the run to avoid prosecution. It wasn’t clear if the suspect has obtained legal counsel.
Officials say Boelter impersonated law enforcement to get close to the lawmakers’ at their suburban Twin Cities homes before opening fire.
Police in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, conducting a welfare check at the Hortmans’ residence encountered a man in front they believe is Boelter and dressed as a police officer, with a police-style SUV, emergency lights on, in the driveway, Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said on Saturday.
It was apparent the home had taken fire before the officers’ arrival, he said, and when the suspect realized police had arrived, he opened fire and exchanged rounds with them before fleeing through the home and escaping out back, he said.
No other injuries were reported, but inside that home was the slain couple, authorities said.
A statement of probable cause filed in support of charges reflected in the state warrant stated the suspect was seen on security video earlier at Hoffman’s home, shortly after 2 a.m., presenting himself at their door as a police officer, wearing a mask over his face, and using a Ford SUV that had the appearance of a marked patrol vehicle.
The couple’s daughter was not struck and called 911. Walz cited the daughter, Hope, as he spoke Sunday night, calling her actions “heroic.”
Authorities said they found three semiautomatic rifles and two 9mm handguns in the abandoned SUV. Also inside, they said, was the notebook with the alleged hit list.
At the news conference, Evans said a local police officer reported seeing a man running into the woods, and authorities, including SWAT teams and a state public safety helicopter overhead, rushed the area. They called for the suspect to surrender and captured him as a crawled on a field, he said.
Detectives were interviewing the suspect overnight, Evans said.
In video circulating online the suspect describes himself as a married father of five from Green Isle who works for two funeral homes. He said he previously worked for three decades in the food industry and once traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo to partner with farmers and fishermen there to help them stimulate their food supply system.
A “deep impact” on Minnesota
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Yvette Hoffman was well enough to text updates, including that her husband has had to undergo multiple operations since the shooting in which she said he was struck by nine rounds and eight others hit her.
She said the state senator is “closer every hour to being out of the woods,” according to Klobuchar. Later, Walz said Hoffman emerged from the last of many immediate operations he needed and was recovering.
Walz said the shootings will nonetheless have a deep impact on Minnesota politics, with the loss of Hortman presenting a double-edged sward of political violence and the loss of a leader who he described as ardently effective and compromising.
“Melissa Hortman was the core of who our values were,” the governor said. “It’s not about hatred. It’s not about mean tweets. It’s not about demeaning someone. It’s leading with grace and compassion and vision and compromise and decency. That was taken from us.”
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