By Jack Phillips and Joseph Lord
Contributing Writers
Authorities say they’ve captured Vance Boelter, the suspect accused of the slaying of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband, and an attack on a state senator and his wife.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced the arrest just before a press conference held late on Sunday.
“We got him,” Walz wrote on X.
“After a two-day manhunt [and] two sleepless nights, law enforcement have apprehended Vance Boelter,” Walz said at a press conference moments later.
He said the assassination was a sign for Americans to come together and “recommit to the core values of this country.”
“[Violence] cannot be the norm,” Walz said.
Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said that Boelter would be charged with two counts of murder for the slaying of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and two counts related to the shooting of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife that left both injured. Federal authorities are exploring the prospect of additional charges.
Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley summarized the scale of the operation, saying, “There’s no question that this is the largest manhunt in the state’s history. Just down at the scene where he was taken to custody, there were 20 different SWAT teams over an extremely large area hunting this individual down to take him into custody.”
Lt. Col. Jeremy Geiger of the Minnesota State Patrol described Boelter’s arrest, applauding that no law enforcement officers were injured during the manhunt. Police officers tracked him to an area around 200th Street in Sibley County, Minnesota, a rural area southeast of Minneapolis.
“The suspect crawled to law enforcement teams and was placed under arrest at that point in time … and the suspect was taken into custody without any use of force,” Geiger said.
Evans declined to answer a reporter’s question on whether Boelter had a phone with him at the time of the arrest.
Boelter’s capture comes after a multi-day manhunt involving local, state and federal authorities.
Earlier on Sunday, authorities said they had searched a car abandoned in a rural area of Minnesota that was believed to have been used by Boelter to flee.
Boelter allegedly wore a mask and posed as a police officer before he shot and killed Hortman, a Democrat, and her husband on Saturday at their home in Brooklyn Park, officials said.
Hoffman, also a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, were injured at their home in Champlin. Boelter is also the suspect in that case, officials added.
“We’re incredibly grateful that the Hoffmans are still here with us at this point in time, and that they will be, hopefully, on a continued path to recovery,” Evans said, reporting that the two were cooperating with the investigation.
Evans said Boelter is believed to have acted alone. “We have no indication that the individual that is wanted here did anything other than conduct these acts by himself.”
Evans confirmed that officials have found what some media outlets have described as a “manifesto.” He said this document, a notebook, included the names of other lawmakers with thoughts and other documents interspersed throughout — rather than the organized political and ideological declaration usually associated with the term “manifesto.”
The FBI, which had offered a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to Boelter’s arrest and conviction, released photos of the suspect on Saturday night after the shootings occurred.
Officials haven’t released a motive in the case but Walz has said that the attack appears to be “politically motivated.” Boelter is a former political appointee who served on the same state workforce development board as Hoffman, records show.
Hortman, 55, had been the Democratic leader in the state House since 2017. She led Democrats in a three-week walkout at the beginning of this year’s session in a clash with Republicans. Under a power-sharing agreement, she turned the gavel over to Republican Rep. Lisa Demuth and assumed the title of speaker emerita.
After her death, Walz called her a “formidable public servant, a fixture and a giant in Minnesota.” He also described the shooting as a politically motivated assassination.
On Sunday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., condemned online threats and urged people to think twice before posting accusations or motives on the internet.
“[Hortman was] a person that did everything for the right reasons. And regardless of political parties, look at her face before you send out your next post,” Klobuchar stated.
In a statement, FBI Minneapolis special agent in charge Alvin Winston said that the shooting was a “deliberate and violent act on public servants and their families” and called on the public to provide information about the suspect or the case. The FBI Minneapolis and its main pages on social media platform X had not released any updates on the case as of Sunday afternoon.
A LinkedIn profile that appears to be associated with Boelter showed that his most recently held role was as CEO of the Red Lion Group hotel, which he said was based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
He and his wife, Jennifer, also apparently run a security service called Praetorian Guard Security Services LLC, according to their website. His wife is listed as the chief executive of the firm.
The company website says it offers only armed guard security services, and Boelter wrote that he had been “involved with security situations in Eastern Europe, Africa, North America and the Middle East, including the West Bank, Southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.”
It also said that he has “ground experiences combined with training by both private security firms and by people in the U.S. military” and also “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.” Those claims could not be immediately verified.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
