Suspect In Killing Of Minnesota State Rep. And Her Husband Arrested

The suspect, Vance Boelter, upon his arrest on Sunday night

Source: Africa Publicity

Vance Boelter, the suspect in the alleged shooting and killing of Minnesota State Representative, Melissa Hortman and her husband has been arrested.

 

Boelter allegedly shot and killed Hortman and her husband in their home in what Governor Tim Walz has described as a “politically motivated assassination.”

 

The suspect also allegedly shot Democratic Senator, John Hoffman and his wife. The couple survived the shooting.

 

Following the assassination, a US police launched a manhunt for the 57-year-old suspect whose friends had told journalists that he texted prior to the shootings that he was going to be away for a long while or he going to die soon.

 

He was arrested Sunday night in a wooded area in the city where he lives, after nearly a two-day manhunt.

 

Law enforcement officers set up a “large-scale perimeter” and deployed SWAT teams shortly after a vehicle believed to have been abandoned by Boelter was found in rural Sibley County, Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley reportedly said, adding that an officer in the area thought he saw Boelter “running into the woods.”

 

A local resident’s trail camera captured an image of a man fitting the suspect’s description, a report by the Minneapolis Star Tribune revealed.

 

The Ramsey County Sheriff reportedly told the Star Tribune that “The trail cam picture alerted SWAT teams to go to that area.”

 

Officials said the hunt for Boelter continued after dark, and law enforcement used infrared technology to zero in on the suspect.

 

Law enforcement also used drones and helicopters to look for him from the air.

 

According to officers, after locating and closing in on the suspect in the woods, law enforcement teams were able to “call him out to us.”

 

Boelter then “crawled to law enforcement teams and was placed under arrest at that point in time, Minnesota State Patrol Lt. Col. Jeremy Geiger says.

 

Shortly after the shootings, law enforcement had issued alert, cautioning that the “suspect is armed and dangerous and may be impersonating law enforcement,” the Minnesota Star-Tribune reported.

 

Deputy FBI director Dan Bongino posted on X that the bureau “is working in collaboration with our local and state partners.”

 

“My good friend and colleague, Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were shot and killed this morning in what appears to be a politically motivated assassination,” Walz said at a press conference.

At 10:33 a.m., Walz said Hoffman and his wife “are out of surgery” and receiving care, and that “we are cautiously optimistic that they will survive this assassination attempt.”

 

President Donald Trump issued a statement on the shootings, saying he had “been briefed on the terrible shooting that took place in Minnesota,” and “such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America.”