Live: Suspect went to homes of four lawmakers in all with ‘intent to kill,’ U.S. attorney says

Vance Boelter, the man accused of shooting two Minnesota state legislators and their spouses, visited the homes of four lawmakers over the course of a few hours early Saturday.

Federal prosecutors have charged Boelter, and he is expected to appear in court Monday afternoon.

Boelter, 57, allegedly posed as a police officer and assassinated state House DFL leader Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in the middle of the night Saturday, according to authorities. He is also charged with shooting state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.

Boelter was also charged in Hennepin County with two counts each of second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder.

Here’s what we know so far:

Follow live updates below:

11:35 a.m. - The “police” insignia on the license plate of Vance Boelter’s SUV appears to have been put together by reflective letters similar to what would appear on a mailbox, said Joe Thompson, acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota.

11:29 a.m. - “It’s too early to tell” whether federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty, but “it remains one of our options, though,” said Joe Thompson, acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota.

He added that the state murder charges remain in place, but he expects federal charges will be handled first.

11:27 a.m. - Acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Joe Thompson said a police officer in New Hope saw Vance Boelter at another state senator’s home on Saturday night between his alleged shooting of John and Yvette Hoffman and the killing of Melissa and Mark Hortman.

Thompson said the officer pulled up on Boelter in his police-style SUV and assumed he had been dispatched to the scene to perform a wellness check. When the officer asked Boelter what he was doing, he simply stared straight ahead, Thompson said. The New Hope police officer then left Boelter to continue on with the wellness check.

Thompson said that he believes Boelter was wearing a mask when he interacted with New Hope police.

11:24 a.m. - Vance Boelter is facing six federal charges, acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson announced.

11:18 a.m. - Acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said that Vance Boelter “planned his attack carefully.” Boelter allegedly researched his victims and their families and conducted surveillance on their homes.

Thompson detailed the steps Boelter allegedly took to impersonate a police officer.

“Of course he wore a hyper-realistic silicone mask. The video of his arrival and shooting of Senator Hoffman is truly chilling. There’s no exaggeration that this is the stuff of nightmares,” Thompson said.

11:12 a.m. - At a news conference announcing federal charges, acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said Vance Boelter went to the homes of four Minnesota politicians on Saturday night.

11 a.m. - A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said federal authorities will take over the initial prosecution of Vance Boelter. He will have his first appearance in federal court in St. Paul, not in Hennepin County District Court.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is scheduled to share statements about the federal case at 11 a.m., including the distribution of the federal criminal complaint against Boelter.

10:41 a.m. - A woman said she was driving shortly before 8 p.m. Sunday, after stopping by a friend’s house to get a phone number, looked to her left and there he was, the most wanted of men in Minnesota.

“There is a person in the grass,” Wendy Thomas said Monday, her pace of speech accelerating as she recounted her unanticipated countryside encounter a few miles east of Green Isle.

She knew at that moment it had to be him, Vance Boelter, the subject of a two-day manhunt on allegations that he shot two state legislators and their spouses in their Twin Cities area homes.

“He walked toward the culvert, and he squatted,” she said, thinking her gaze must have made Boelter, dressed in black and muddied, lower his profile.

At first opportunity and while narrating the experience over the phone to her father, Thomas continued, “I throw my arms out the side of the truck to alert [officers]. ‘Are you OK?’” she recalled one of them asking her.

“‘He’s right there!’” Thomas said she told the officers. “I’m pointing. But then I’m doubting myself. Am I wasting my time? I was just hysterical. I was freaking out.”

Read the woman’s full account here.

10:25 a.m. - Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said U.S. marshals were scheduled to pick up Vance Boelter this morning, but she would not comment further on their role in prosecuting Boelter.

She said the second-degree murder and attempted murder charges were filed Saturday to allow for the nationwide warrant for Boelter’s arrest.

10:15 a.m. - Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said she intends to pursue first-degree murder charges against Vance Boelter, adding that her office’s most senior prosecutors are working the case.

“I do want people to know that given the scale of this investigation, the review of evidence will take time,” Moriarty said during a news conference at the Hennepin County Government Center.

Moriarty also called on the public to lower the temperature of political debate.

“It is a frightening time we are living in,” she said. “Political violence is prevalent. And the way we talk to and about each other has raised the temperature to unfathomable levels. We cannot continue on this way.”

10:05 a.m. - Vance Boelter is being held in the custody of U.S. marshals as he awaits his first court appearance in federal court Monday afternoon.

After being arrested late Sunday in a field in Sibley County, Boelter was booked into Hennepin County jail after being delivered by the Brooklyn Park Police Department just after 1 a.m. Monday. His bail was set at $5 million, but he is now being held by marshals at the U.S. Courthouse in St. Paul.

Boelter will now appear in federal court at 1:30 p.m. after he was initially slated for a first hearing at the Hennepin County Public Safety Facility.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is scheduled to share statements about the federal case at 11 a.m.

9:39 a.m. - Federal prosecutors have announced Vance Boelter will appear in federal court Monday afternoon following his arrest.

Boelter is now in federal custody and will appear in the St. Paul courthouse at 1:30 p.m. after initially slated for a first hearing at the Hennepin County Public Safety Facility.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is scheduled to share statements about the federal case at 11 a.m.

8:19 a.m. - The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office is scheduled to hold a news conference on the charges against Vance Boelter at 10 a.m. Monday.

7:14 a.m. - The search for Vance Boelter was “the largest manhunt in the state’s history,” according to Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley, who said that 20 SWAT teams were part of the effort.

Investigators converged on the rural area in Sibley County with a number of SWAT teams as well as assistance of air support from the State Patrol, according to state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans.

“The suspect crawled to law enforcement teams and was placed under arrest at that point in time,” Lt. Col. Jeremy Geiger of the State Patrol said. “There was no use of force by any member of law enforcement that was out there, and the suspect was taken into custody without any use of force.”

7:11 a.m. - The massive police effort to apprehend Vance Boelter included the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, a helicopter and infrared technology, according to the BCA’s Drew Evans.

“The technology in cases like this are incredible tools to be able to supplement the great hard work of all the people that were on the ground every day,” he said.

Evans said Boelter was taken into custody in a rural area characterized by “streams, fields, woods, crops.” He was ultimately arrested in a field.

6:31 a.m. - Vance Boelter is being held on $5 million bail after being booked into the Hennepin County jail after 1 a.m. Monday. Records indicate he is being held in City Hall, which houses inmates across the street from the Hennepin County Public Safety Facility in downtown Minneapolis.

6:09 a.m. - Vance Boelter is scheduled to appear in court at 1:30 p.m. Monday, according to jail records.

6 a.m. - Melissa and Mark Hortman’s children had to put down the family’s dog Gilbert, whom Boelter reportedly shot, according to a colleague of the DFL leader.

“Melissa loved that dog,” Rep. Erin Koegel wrote on X on Sunday night. “She trained him as a service dog. He flunked out of school and she was so happy he failed so he could stay! She needed him in heaven with her.”