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After a two-day manhunt, law enforcement agents Sunday night arrested the man accused of shooting two Minnesota lawmakers a day earlier, killing one and injuring the other.
Vance Luther Boelter, 57, was apprehended near his home in Green Isle, Minnesota, roughly 50 miles southwest of Minneapolis. The state of Minnesota has charged him with second-degree murder in connection with the shootings. State prosecutors said Monday that they are seeking to upgrade the charges to first-degree murder.
Boelter is being held on a $5 million bond and is scheduled to appear in court in Minnesota on Monday at 1:30 p.m. local time.
Scroll to the bottom to read the charging document.
Officials say Boelter, impersonating a police officer, shot state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman, around 2 a.m. Saturday in their home in Champlin, Minnesota, a northern suburb of Minneapolis. He then went to the home of state Rep. Melissa Hortman in neighboring Brooklyn Park and fatally shot her and her husband, Mark Hortman, according to authorities.
At Hortman’s house, law enforcement agents encountered the suspect, who fled the scene after exchanging gunfire with police. He was on the run for about 43 hours before being captured.
Gov. Tim Walz has described the shootings as “politically motivated.” Both Hortman and Hoffman are members of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), the state’s Democratic Party. Hortman was the DFL leader of the Minnesota House of Representatives.
“One man’s unthinkable actions have altered the state of Minnesota,” Walz said at a press conference Sunday announcing Boelter’s arrest.
“Melissa Hortman was the core of who our values were,” he said. “We’ll take solace in the memory and the work that Melissa did, and you can rest assured that we will put every ounce of effort the state of Minnesota has to make sure justice is served.”
Hortman and her husband leave behind two children.
After multiple rounds of surgeries, Hoffman is “moving towards recovery,” Walz said Sunday. He was shot nine times, and his wife was shot eight times, his wife said in a statement Sunday. Both are expected to recover.
“We have no words,” she said in the statement Sunday. “There is never a place for this kind of political hate.”
‘Largest manhunt in the state’s history’
Around 6 a.m. local time Saturday, several hours after the shootings in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis, David Carlson received a text message from Boelter, Carlson told reporters.
Carlson, who said he is a close friend of Boelter, said the suspect texted him that he “may be dead shortly” and that he was “sorry for all the trouble this has caused.”
At some point, the suspect left the Minneapolis area and traveled roughly 50 miles southwest to Sibley County, which includes Green Isle, the small town where he lives, according to officials.
Around 6:30 a.m. Sunday, investigators received a report that the suspect’s vehicle and cowboy hat were spotted on the side of a highway near a wooded area in Sibley County.
“Law enforcement agents, including SWAT team members, converged in Green Isle on Sunday after receiving information that Boelter was seen in the area that day,” Drew Evans, superintendent of Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said during a news conference Sunday.
The suspect was found armed and crawling in a field near his home Sunday night, authorities said. He was detained without any use of force, and no law enforcement agents were injured in the process, according to the Minnesota State Patrol.
Boelter was “cooperative” with law enforcement at the time of his arrest and “gave up peacefully,” Evans said during a news conference on Monday.
About 20 SWAT teams covered “an extremely large area” in their pursuit of Boelter, Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mary Bruley said during the news conference. “There is no question that this is the largest manhunt in the state’s history,” he said.
Who is Vance Boelter?
Boelter, wearing a mask, blue shirt and police-style tactical vest with a badge, had knocked on the Hoffmans’ door in Champlin and announced himself as a police officer, according to the charging document. He then shot Hoffman and his wife. Their adult daughter was in the home at the time and called 911 to report the shooting. She was reportedly unharmed.
After that shooting, police proactively sent officers to Hortman’s home, officials said. When they arrived around 3:30 a.m., they saw the suspect, still dressed as a police officer, shoot Mark Hortman through an open door of the home, according to the charging document. After exchanging gunfire with police, the suspect fled the scene. Police found the Hortmans deceased from gunshot wounds inside.
“Boelter exploited the trust our uniforms are meant to represent,” Bob Jacobson, commissioner of Minnesota’s Department of Public Safety, said during a news conference Sunday. “That betrayal is deeply disturbing to those of us who wear the badge with honor and responsibility.”
In fleeing the scene of the Brooklyn Park shooting, Boelter left a Ford SUV with police-style lights, officials said. Police searched the vehicle and found papers with the words “No Kings” written on them, an apparent reference to the massive “No Kings” demonstrations protesting President Donald Trump’s administration that took place nationwide Saturday. The discovery prompted state officials to ask people to avoid political rallies in the state until the suspect was apprehended.
A Minnesota-based security company, Praetorian Guard Security, lists Boelter as its director of security patrols. The site describes Boelter’s involvement with “security situations” in “Eastern Europe, Africa, North America and the Middle East, including the West Bank, Southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.”
According to the bio, Boelter “brings a great security aspect forged by both many on the ground experiences combined with training by both private security firms and by people in the U.S. Military. He has worked for the largest U.S. oil refining company, the world’s largest food company based in Switzerland and the world’s largest convenience retailer based in Japan.”
Documents available online indicate Boelter was appointed by then-Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton in 2016 to serve on the Governor’s Workforce Development Council, which includes dozens of members from across the political spectrum. Walz reappointed him to the council in 2019 for a term that expired in 2023. In the documentation for both appointments, Boelter is listed as having no political affiliation.
A video posted online two years ago appears to show him preaching to a congregation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, reported The Star Tribune. “I met Jesus when I was 17 years old, and I gave my life to him,” he said in the video. He also noted in his sermon that he has wife and five children — four daughters and a son.
Police pulled over Boelter’s wife and “several other relatives” in a car Saturday morning as part of a perimeter stop, according to the Mille Lacs County Sheriff’s Office. His wife and other relatives have been “very cooperative” with investigators, officials said.
Carlson, the close friend who said he received a text message from Boelter after the shootings, told reporters that Boelter is a strong supporter of Trump and has previously espoused strong feelings against abortion.
Investigators are examining a list left behind by the suspect that includes the names of dozens of politicians and people outside of politics, two people familiar with the investigation told NBC News on Saturday. A source said that the list named prominent individuals in Minnesota who have been outspoken in their support of reproductive rights.
Read the state criminal warrant for Boelter below:
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.