(KNSI) – Just after 10:40 on Sunday night, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz stepped to the podium at the state emergency operations center in Blaine to announce the suspect in the shootings of two Minnesota politicians was in custody.
He proclaimed, “After a two-day manhunt, two sleepless nights, law enforcement have apprehended Vance Boelter. That’s 48 hours that law enforcement…spent Father’s Day away from their families to deliver justice for Melissa and Mark Hortman and their children, who spent this Father’s Day alone.”
Vance Boelter is believed to have impersonated a police officer to gain access to the homes of state Senator John Hoffman and Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman early Saturday, where he then shot them and their spouses. The Hortmans were killed. The Hoffmans had to be rushed into emergency surgery, but survived.
Boelter was founded in a wooded region not far from his Green Isle home by law enforcement. Nearly a hundred troopers and officers participated in the manhunt.
The motive for why Boelter carried out the attacks is still unclear. During the 5:30 p.m. Sunday press update, Superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Drew Evans, walked back that Boelter left behind a manifesto. “This is a notebook with a lot of lawmakers and others that are listed in here, and then…much more other thoughts that are throughout this, as opposed to a very succinct document.”
The assassination caused chaos. Many communities were subjected to shelter-in-place orders while the manhunt was underway. Rallies scheduled for Saturday and expected to draw large crowds were postponed.
The shootings took place just days after the last legislative session had ended.
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