Federal prosecutors said Monday that the man charged with shooting two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses, killing one couple, went to two other legislators’ homes that night, bent on more bloodshed.
One of them was away vacationing with her family, and 57-year-old suspect Vance Boelter bolted from the other house after police arrived, acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said.
Boelter carefully researched his targets and their families, surveilled their homes and took notes, Thompson said at a press conference Monday morning.
Boelter was arrested late Sunday and charged with murder and attempted murder after being booked into Hennepin County Jail at 1:05 a.m. Central Time on Monday and is being held on $5 million bail. He is scheduled to appear in court Monday afternoon.
“It is no exaggeration to say that his crimes are the stuff of nightmares,” Thompson said. “Boelter stalked his victims like prey,” then went to their homes, told them he was a police officer, “and shot them in cold blood.”
His first stop was the home of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, in Champlin, Thompson said. He pulled into their driveway in a black Ford SUV at 2:05 a.m. Saturday “with emergency lights turned on and a license plate that read ‘police,’ ” and wearing a “hyper-realistic silicon mask.”
He banged on the door, shouting, “This is the police, open the door,” then shined his flashlight straight into their faces. Once he lowered it they shouted at him, “You’re not a cop,” whereupon “Boelter then announced, ‘This is a robbery,’ and forced himself into their home,” Thompson said. Hoffman tried to push him out and was shot “repeatedly,” Thompson said.
Boelter then shot Yvette Hoffman, who threw herself in front of her adult daughter Hope to shield her from the bullets, according to reports. The Hoffmans survived and are expected to make a full recovery, authorities said Monday. The gunman fled, and Hope called 911 reporting “that a masked person had come to their door and then shot their parents,” according to a Hennepin County criminal complaint unsealed after Boelter’s arrest and posted by The New York Times.
Gov. Tim Walz praised the family’s “heroic acts,” which he said “saved countless lives,” at a press conference late Sunday.
Boelter then went to the two other lawmakers’ homes in other Minneapolis suburbs before showing up at the Brooklyn Park residence of former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, at about 3:35 a.m.
Police arrived to do a welfare check after Hope Hoffman’s call just as Boelter fatally shot Mark Hortman through an open door. Police fired, but the gunman ran inside the house, shooting as he went and killing Melissa Hortman before escaping out the back, leaving his vehicle behind.
Inside the SUV, police found three AK-47 assault rifles, a 9mm handgun and a list containing names and addresses of dozens of other public officials, prosecutors said, echoing police in the unsealed criminal complaint.
Police also recovered a manifesto naming 11 Wisconsin lawmakers, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on Sunday, without saying whether it was found in the SUV.
An area canvass turned up a bulletproof vest, a disassembled 9mm firearm, a mask, and a “gold police-style badge,” the complaint stated.
Boelter’s capture capped the “largest manhunt in the state’s history,” Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said. It involved at least 20 tactical teams who fanned out into woods near Boelter’s Green Isle, Minn. farm in Sibley County throughout Sunday. On Sunday night, a resident reported seeing Boelter on a trail camera, and officers closed in.
“The suspect crawled to law enforcement teams and was placed under arrest at that point in time,” Minnesota State Patrol Lt. Col. Jeremy Geiger told ABC News.
He has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two of attempted murder. The state will seek to upgrade the charges to first-degree murder, Hennepin County prosecutor Mary Moriarty said Monday, but under state law, prosecutors need a grand jury indictment to do so. The state charges carry a maximum penalty of life without parole, while pending federal charges could put the death penalty on the table.
“This was a targeted attack against individuals who answered the call to public service,” said Alvin Winston, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Minneapolis field office.
“We will seek justice and accountability for the victims of all these heinous crimes,” Moriarty vowed at a separate press conference Monday morning, according to KSTP-TV.
With News Wire Services
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