Minnesota suspect went to 4 officials' homes in plot to 'kill,' prosecutor says: Updates
The man accused of shooting two Minnesota lawmakers went to the homes of two other state officials the morning he launched a targeted "political assassination," a federal prosecutor said Monday.
Joseph Thompson, the acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota, did not give the names of the two lawmakers but said the suspect, 57-year-old Vance Boelter, drove to their houses after he shot and wounded State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, in the early morning hours Saturday.
Boelter, wearing an orange jumpsuit, appeared in a federal court Monday afternoon in St. Paul, Minnesota, and said he has $20,000-30,000 in savings and can't afford a lawyer. Magistrate John Docherty ordered public defense for him and granted prosecutor Bradley Endicott's request that Boelter be detained in federal custody pending a trial. Docherty also set a combined detention and preliminary hearing for June 27.
A federal affidavit released Monday says Boelter, who was impersonating a police officer, "embarked on a planned campaign of stalking and violence, designed to inflict fear, injure and kill members of the Minnesota state legislature and their families."
The suspect's final stop was in Brooklyn Park, where he shot and killed Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, inside their home, Thompson said.
Boelter was arrested Sunday night in rural Sibley County, about 50 miles away from Minneapolis, after he surrendered to law enforcement in a wooded area near his home. He faces six federal charges, including multiple counts of murder and stalking, opening the possibility of the death penalty if he's convicted.
Minnesota state prosecutors said they plan to pursue first-degree murder charges against Boelter. Those charges would carry a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. The death penalty was abolished in Minnesota in the early 1900s.
"It is not an exaggeration to say that his crimes are the stuff of nightmares,'' Thompson said. "Boelter stalked his victims like prey.''
Boelter charged with federal murder counts
Thompson announced multiple federal charges against Boelter on Monday, including murder, making him eligible for the death penalty. In all, federal prosecutors announced six counts including stalking, murder and several firearms related offenses.
Boelter "extensively planned his stalking, murders and attempted murders," the federal affidavit says.
Despite the "voluminous writings'' authorities found in Boelter's vehicle and home, Thompson said his motive for the killing spree remains unclear.
Boelter went to the home of other state officials, U.S. attorney says
Thompson said that after shooting Hoffman and his wife, Boelter traveled to Maple Grove, Minnesota, and knocked on the door of another state legislator. The representative was not home, so Boelter left, Thompson said.
Boelter then went to New Hope, Minnesota, to the home of another legislator. State Sen. Ann Rest said in a statement Monday she was that intended target, thanking local police and saying, "Their quick action saved my life.''
When police sent to check on Rest arrived at the scene, an officer saw Boelter's SUV and attempted to speak with him. "He just sat there and stared straight ahead," Thompson said. The officer went to Rest's home and waited for another officer to arrive, allowing Boelter to flee.
After that he traveled to Brooklyn Park, where he is accused of killing Melissa and Mark Hortman.
'Chilling' attack at Hoffman home caught on video
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota shared a message on the X platform from Yvette Hoffman saying her husband has undergone several surgeries and is closer "to being out of the woods'' after being shot nine times. Yvette Hoffman said she took eight bullet hits herself.
Thompson described a "chilling'' scene captured on security footage as Boelter pretended to be a police officer responding to a call about shots at the Hoffman home and blinding them with a flashlight. When they realized he was an impostor, John Hoffman tried to push him out of their house, at which point Boelter opened fire.
"We are both incredibly lucky to be alive,'' Yvette Hoffman said in her message, also expressing intense grief for the deaths of Melissa and Mark Hortman.
Klobuchar also said the Hortmans helped train dogs to be partnered with military veterans, "one of the many reasons we will miss Melissa and Mark.''
A cache of firearms found in Boelter's SUV
After Brooklyn Park police exchanged gunfire with Boelter, who ran back into Hortman’s home and fled out the back door on foot, officers found approximately five firearms in his abandoned, police-looking black SUV, according to the affidavit.
The weapons included semi-automatic, assault-style rifles, as well as a large quantity of ammunition organized into loaded magazines, the affidavit said. Photos show the weapons either on the passenger seat or in a plastic storage bucket.
Police later found a disassembled 9 millimeter Beretta handgun and three magazines on the ground a few blocks away from the Hortmans' house.
Suspect bought an e-bike, car while on the run
Authorities said Boelter fled the scene after buying a used e-bike and a Buick from a man he met in North Minneapolis.
Boelter bought the items for $900 after they drove to a bank and Boelter withdrew $2,200 hours after he shot four people on June 14, the affidavit said. The FBI used the bank’s security footage of Boelter, who was seen wearing a cowboy hat, in its alert.
Authorities eventually tracked Boelter to where they found the bike and car near his family home in Green Isle, Minnesota. They searched the Buick and found a letter addressed to the FBI, in which Boelter admitted to “being the shooter at large involved in Minnesota in the shootings the morning of Saturday June 14,” the affidavit said.
He was arrested later that evening.
Suspect texted family: 'Dad went to war last night'
As law enforcement agents intensified their search for Boelter on Saturday, they tracked down his wife using cell phone records, the affidavit revealed.
Boelter sent text messages to her and other family members writing, “Dad went to war last night … I don’t wanna say any more because I don’t wanna implicate anybody.”
Around the same time, Boelter’s wife received another text from Boelter that read, “Words are not gonna explain how sorry I am for this situation … there’s gonna be some people coming to the house armed and trigger-happy and I don’t want you guys around.”
After Boelter's wife consented to a search of her car, officers found two handguns, approximately $10,000 in cash and passports for her and her children, who were in the car with her at the time. The affidavit doesn’t specify where authorities found Boelter’s wife.
Minnesota prosecutors plans to file first-degree murder charges
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said at a news conference Monday that her office plans to pursue first degree-murder charges against Boelter.
She said Boelter was initially charged with second-degree murder counts because they are "the highest charges we can file by complaint, and it needed to be done quickly to get the warrant out." Now that he is in custody, she plans to obtain a grand jury indictment and upgrade the charges.
Minnesota shooting suspect in jail; officials consider federal charges
Boelter remains in custody after he was booked into the Hennepin County Jail on Monday around 1 a.m., according to jail records.
While he is currently charged with four counts of murder and attempted murder, he may face additional charges in connection with the shootings.
The U.S. Attorney's Office is reviewing whether Boelter will face federal charges, Drew Evans, the superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said at a news conference.
What led to Vance Boelter's arrest?
Authorities on Sunday discovered an abandoned vehicle belonging to Boelter near where he lived in Sibley County. A law enforcement officer in the area also reported seeing Boelter running into the woods.
Authorities set up a large perimeter and over 20 SWAT teams began searching on the ground and by helicopter. Police later received a tip that a man was seen in the wooded area, allowing search teams to tighten their perimeter.
Lt. Col. Jeremy Geiger of the Minnesota State Patrol said Boelter eventually crawled out to law enforcement and was taken into custody. He was armed but no shots were fired, Geiger said.
Start your day informed: Sign up for Paste BN's Daily Briefing newsletter.
Complaint reveals new info about lawmaker shootings in Minnesota
Just after 2 a.m. on Saturday, police received a call from Hoffman's adult daughter reporting that “a masked person had come to their door and then shot their parents," according to the Hennepin County charging document.
Law enforcement arrived at the home in Champlin, about 20 miles outside Minneapolis, and discovered Jeff and Yvette Hoffman with multiple gunshot wounds.
After learning that the Champlin shooting involved a lawmaker, the Brooklyn Park Police Department proactively sent patrol officers to the Hortmans' home around 3:30 a.m.
There, officers saw a Ford SUV with "police-style lights." They then spotted Boelter as he shot Mark Hortman through the open front door of the home, the complaint said. Police opened fire and Boelter shot back before he fled out into a wooded area.
Inside the vehicle, investigators found three AK-47 rifles, a handgun as well as a list of names and addresses of other public officials, court records say.
Notebooks show how suspect targeted victims, prosecutors say
Boelter kept “voluminous” details of his intended targets in several notebooks, the federal affidavit says. Among them: Boelter listed the names and often home addresses of numerous Minnesota politicians. One included the name of State Representative Melissa Hortman, one of Boelter’s victims.
Beneath her name, a notation reads “married Mark 2 children 11th term,” the affidavit said. Mark is the name of Hortman’s husband, how many kids they had and how many terms she served in office.
Another notation also listed “Big house off golf course 2 ways in to watch from one spot,” noting the location of the Brooklyn Park golf course close to where Hortman lived.
“It’s pretty clear from the evidence that he’s been planning these attacks for quite some time,” Thompson said during a news conference.
Suspect bought supplies at outdoors store
Boelter prepared for several days to impersonate a police officer as part of his plan to kill local politicians, the affidavit said.
During a search of the north Minneapolis house where Boelter stayed part time, officers found a handwritten list of public officials that was also listed in notebooks found in his abandoned SUV. Officers also discovered a receipt from outdoors retailer Fleet Farm dated June 9, five days before the killings.
Authorities said the receipt included a tactical rifle case and two types of ammunition, along with a flashlight and “materials believed to have been used to create the fake ‘POLICE’ license plate attached to Boelter’s SUV.”
−Terry Collins
Who is Vance Boelter? Suspect in Minnesota shootings
Boelter has connections with evangelical ministries and claimed online to be a security expert with experience overseas, including in Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, online postings show. His LinkedIn also said he worked as a general manager for 7-Eleven until 2021.
In 2019, Boelter was appointed by Walz, along with dozens of others, to serve on the governor's workforce development board. Hoffman also served on the state board, though it's unclear if the two ever interacted.
In a February 2023 video, Boelter can be seen preaching at an evangelical church in the Democratic Republic of Congo, telling a large audience he has five children and that he "gave his life" to Jesus at age 17. In several other videos, Boelter tells churchgoers that some churches in the U.S. "don’t know abortion is wrong" and that "people don’t know what sex they are" because of the devil.
Authorities have not said what motivated Boelter to carry out the attack. Authorities previously said it appeared Boelter targeted legislators who are abortion rights supporters based on writings he left behind, but later clarified that the writings were not a "traditional manifesto."
Officials said they met with Boelter’s family, including his wife, but said that none of his family members were taken into custody.
Minnesota shooting suspect arrested in state's largest manhunt
Brooklyn Park police Chief Mark Bruley said at a news conference that the search for Boelter was the largest manhunt in state history.
"This was a very dangerous individual for our community and that's why so many resources and such a great collaboration came together to focus on removing him from society," Bruley said, adding that focus has now turned to putting together a case against Boelter.
"Now begins the hard work of looking at what the motive is," Bruley said.
Where is Sibley County, Minnesota?
Sibley County is located in south-central Minnesota and is about 50 miles away from Minneapolis.
The massive manhunt focused on Sibley County because Boelter has a residence just outside Green Isle, a small community with a population of about 520, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
It was in a wooded area near his Green Isle residence where Boelter surrendered to law enforcement officers, officials said.
Contributing: Corey Schmidt, St. Cloud Times; Reuters