40 hours of violence and fear as gunman stalks Minnesota politicians

MINNEAPOLIS — Violence and fear swept through towns in an arc around Minneapolis for more than 40 hours over the weekend as a man seemingly intent on sowing political devastation killed one Minnesota state lawmaker and left another bleeding from nine bullet wounds.

The attacks sparked the largest manhunt in Minnesota history, with heavily armed officers in full combat gear riding armored vehicles through suburban streets and country roads, ending in the arrest of Vance Boelter, a 57-year-old father of five and sometime Christian pastor known for his deeply conservative beliefs — but whose friends never saw him as an extremist.

From a state that has long prided itself on political civility, the attacks rippled across the country as frightened political leaders worried that America’s divides could cost them their lives.

‘’This was a political assassination, which is not the word we use very often in the United States, let alone in Minnesota’’ acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson told reporters Monday. ‘’It’s a chilling attack on our democracy, on our way of life.’’

Saturday, June 14,

2:06 a.m., Champlin, Minnesota

The black SUV’s emergency lights were flashing when it pulled up to the brick split-level home in the quiet, middle-class Minneapolis suburb. The maple tree in the front yard was lush with summer leaves.

The man got out of the car wearing tactical clothing, body armor and what looked like a police badge. He was carrying a 9 mm Beretta pistol.

He knocked loudly and repeatedly shouted, ‘’This is the police, open the door.’’

Later, even law enforcement officials said they would have believed he was a police officer.

About 2:07 a.m., Champlin

The couple who lived at the Champlin home, Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, opened the door to a flashlight shining in their faces.

There had been a report of a shooting in the house, Boelter told them. But when he eventually lowered the flashlight, Yvette Hoffman could see he was wearing a realistic mask that covered his entire head. In the confrontation that followed, he shot both repeatedly. The next morning, nine bullet holes could be seen in their front door.

Police responded within minutes, after a 911 call from the Hoffman’s adult daughter, who also lives in the house.

The legislator and his wife were rushed to a nearby hospital.

2:24 a.m., Maple Grove

A little more than 10 miles (16 kilometers) away, security camera footage showed Boelter, still in his mask and tactical clothing, holding a flashlight as he rang the doorbell at the home of someone who authorities have so far only identified as ‘’Public Official 1.’’

‘’This is the police. Open the door,’’ he said loudly. ‘’We have a warrant.’’

Boelter was traveling with a list of about 70 names, including prominent state and federal lawmakers, community leaders and abortion-rights advocates, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the ongoing investigation.

The federal affidavit says the list was composed of ‘’mostly or all Democrats.’’

No one was at the Maple Grove home. Boelter soon left.

But he had plenty of other targets. Boelter had carefully planned his attacks in advance, making notes about targets’ families and conducting surveillance on their homes, Thompson said.

‘’Boelter stalked his victims like prey,’’ he said.

About 2:36 a.m., New Hope

Roughly 5 miles (8 kilometers) away, in another suburb just north of Minneapolis, Boelter drove to the home of Democratic state Sen. Ann Rest.

By then, law enforcement was starting to worry about local legislators and New Hope police dispatched an officer to do a safety check at Rest’s home.

That officer found what she thought was a police vehicle already doing a check, parked down the street from the house. When the officer tried to speak to Boelter, he stared straight ahead and didn’t respond.

The officer then drove to Rest’s home, and after seeing no trouble waited for backup and returned to where Boelter had been parked.

But by then he was gone.

Around 3:30 a.m., Brooklyn Park

An off-duty sergeant with the Brooklyn Park police was leaving the station when he heard about the shooting at Hoffman’s house.

‘’’Hey, drive by Melissa Hortman’s house and just check on the house, would you?’’ he told a pair of officers, the city’s police chief, Mark Bruley, told reporters. Hortman, 55, the former house speaker, had long been one of the state’s leading Democrats.

Minutes later, Brooklyn Park

Boelter, his phony police car parked out front with its lights flashing, was standing at the front door of the large brick home when the real Brooklyn Park officers arrived.

‘’Moments after their arrival on scene, Boelter fired several gunshots as he moved forward, entering the Hortmans’ home,’’ the federal affidavit states. Moments later, he fired a second set of shots.

The officers moved to the house and found a gravely injured Mark Hortman in the doorway. Inside the house, they found Melissa Hortman. She had also been badly shot.

Both soon died.

Left behind, though, was Boelter’s car, with the list of targets and at least five weapons. Nearby, police found the mask Boelter had worn along with the pistol he’d carried.

Law enforcement believed he was on foot.

About 6:18 a.m.

‘’Dad went to war last night,’’ said a message Boelter sent on a family group text, which his wife eventually shared with authorities. Police had found her by tracking her cellphone. They found her in a car with her children, along with two handguns, about $10,000 in cash and passports, the affidavit said.

Boelter had apparently urged her to leave.

‘’Words are not going to explain how sorry I am,’’ he said in another message. ‘’there’s gonna be some people coming to the house armed and trigger-happy and I don’t want you guys around.’’

He also reached out to two roommates with whom he sometimes stayed in Minneapolis.

‘’May be dead shortly, so I just want to let you know I love you guys both and I wish it hadn’t gone this way,’’ Boelter wrote, according to Paul Schroeder, who has known Boelter for years.

Friends said Boelter had been struggling financially in recent years. In 2023, he began working for a transport service for a funeral home, mostly picking up bodies from assisted-living facilities. That job ended about four months ago.

Later Saturday morning, Brooklyn Park

Within hours of the Hortman shooting, hundreds of police officers, sheriff deputies and FBI agents were roaming the streets near the scene.

Cellphones in the area pinged an alert, urging people near the Hortmans’ neighborhood to take shelter. ‘’Police are still looking for a suspect in multiple targeted shootings who is armed and dangerous," the alert said, giving a description of Boelter. ‘’Do not approach.’’

A series of roadblocks was also set up, with law enforcement searching every vehicle as it left, fearing Boelter could try to escape by hiding in a car.

About 7 a.m., bus stop in north Minneapolis

Carrying two duffel bags, Boelter approached a man he didn’t know at a Minneapolis bus stop roughly 7 miles (11 kilometers) from the Hortmans’ home and asked to purchase his electric bike. After taking the bus together to the man’s home, Boelter agreed to buy the bike and the man’s Buick sedan. They then drove the Buick to a bank branch in nearby Robbinsdale, where Boelter, who can be seen in security footage wearing a cowboy hat, withdrew $2,200, emptying his bank account. He paid the man $900.

Sunday, June 15, about 2:30 a.m., Green Isle

Law enforcement received a report of someone riding an e-bike on a country road outside the small town of Green Isle, about an hour from downtown Minneapolis.

The cyclist was not found, but Boelter’s family lives not far away, in a sprawling 3,800-square-foot house they bought in 2023 for more than $500,000.

Later Sunday morning

The Buick was found, abandoned, near where the cyclist had been spotted.

Worried about explosives, law enforcement initially used a robot to check the car. Inside, they found the cowboy hat that Boelter appeared to be wearing in the bank.

There was also a handwritten letter addressed to the FBI in which Boelter said he was ‘’the shooter at large in Minnesota involved in the 2 shootings.’’

Sunday night, Green Isle

Law enforcement set up a large perimeter near Green Isle after a police officer thought he’d seen Boelter running into the woods. Twenty tactical teams were called in for an intensive search.

For hours, heavily armed men, some with dogs, walked the roads and fields of rural Sibley County. A helicopter was called in to help.

Boelter was spotted shortly before nightfall, and officers surrounded him.

He soon surrendered, crawling to officers who handcuffed him and took him into custody.

Monday, St. Paul

Boelter now faces a series of state charges, including murder and attempted murder. Federal prosecutors announced they had charged him with murder and stalking, which could result in a death sentence if he is convicted.

At a federal court hearing Monday in St. Paul, Boelter said he could not afford an attorney. A federal defender was appointed to represent him. He was ordered held without bail ahead of a court appearance next week.

Across the U.S., local and state politicians rushed to scrub home addresses from websites and began debating whether security should now be provided for politicians like state senators.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar shared a text from Yvette Hoffman, whose recovery came quicker than her husband’s.

‘’John is enduring many surgeries right now and is closer every hour to being out of the woods,’’ Yvette Hoffman said Saturday in a text that Klobuchar posted on social media. ‘’He took 9 bullet hits. I took 8 and we are both incredibly lucky to be alive. We are gutted and devastated by the loss of Melissa and Mark.’’

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Associated Press reporters Alanna Durkin Richer, Michael Biesecker, Mike Balsamo and Eric Tucker in Washington; Jim Mustian in New York; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas; Rio Yamat in Las Vegas; Giovanna Dell’Orto in Champlin; Obed Lamy in St. Paul and Margery Beck in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report.

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This story was compiled from federal and state legal documents, interviews with law enforcement officials, political officials and people who knew Boelter and the victims.