Assassin Vance Boelter signed a confession letter blaming Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for ordering the killings.
The letter, supposedly intended for FBI Director Kash Patel, says Walz personally instructed Boelter to take out State Rep. Melissa Hortman, the former House Speaker, and her husband, as well as state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette. The Hoffmans survived the attack, but the Hortmans both died.
Boelter also says he received training from the U.S. military. Here’s more from Benny Johnson.
KSTP, the ABC affiliate in Minneapolis, says Vance Luther Boelter was apprehended around 10 p.m. Sunday. Minnesota State Police took the fugitive into custody in a heavily wooded area within Sibley County, just southwest of his Green Isle home.
Boelter had stunned Minnesotans with a brazen act of political assassination, allegedly killing two victims and wounding two others in the early morning hours on Saturday. Boelter’s wife Jennifer also was detained Sunday, taken into custody after she was found in a car containing weapons, cash and passports. Like her husband, she also worked previously for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, starting in 2010 as an intern.
Meanwhile, we are learning more about a hit list found in Boetler’s abandoned security vehicle. Some 70 individuals were identified as being targets for assassination, among them, Walz himself, as well as Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith — all Democrats from Minnesota.
Those attacked Saturday by Boelter included a former Speaker of the Minnesota House, Melissa Hortman, and her husband, both murdered, and State Sen. John Hoffmanm along with his wife, both shot multiple times and still in critical condition. In his home attacks on Saturday, Boelter wore a mask bearing the likeness of Walter White, the villain from TV show Breaking Bad. Here’s more from Viva Frei.
The Minnesota State Patrol implored the public not to participate in the planned “No Kings” protests across the North Star State in light of the attack that killed a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband, while badly injuring another politician. Pronounced dead was State Rep. Melissa Hortman, 55, the former Speaker of the state House, and her husband, killed in Brooklyn Park, northwest of Minneapolis. Also shot multiple times and left wounded were State Sen. John Hoffman, 60, and his wife, who lived nearby in Champlin, Minn.
Officials revealed that the suspect behind the deadly attack had flyers for the “No Kings” rally in his vehicle. In addition, he had a massive supply of ammunition and weaponry, as well as a manifesto listing close to 70 other politicians and institutions, presumably other potential targets. Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said the suspect was using a police “badge and uniform” to manipulate his way into the lawmakers’ homes, and was even driving a car that looks like a “police vehicle” and was equipped with emergency lights.
“Given the targeted shootings of state lawmakers overnight, we are asking the public to not attend today’s planned demonstrations across Minnesota out of an abundance of caution,” state patrol said in a statement. Here’s more from the New York Post.
Sources told the Associated Press that the shooting suspect is 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter, who owns a private security firm known as Praetorian Guard Security . He previously served on Minnesota’s Governor’s Workforce Development Board, appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton in 2016 and reappointed by Gov. Tim Walz in 2019. Boelter remained at large Saturday night.
It’s not clear why he targeted the two Democratic legislators, although Walz called the shooting death of Hortman “a politically motivated assassination.” Here’s more from T-SPLY.
