In north Minneapolis, residents ask why they were kept out of the loop during Vance Boelter manhunt

The morning a gunman went on the run after shooting Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband in Brooklyn Park, the suburb sent a shelter-in-place alert to area cellphones, warning residents.

Suspect Vance Boelter eventually made his way to north Minneapolis, where he appeared on security footage returning to his part-time rental house. Yet many north Minneapolis residents didn’t know Boelter had been in their midst that day.

“Boelter’s presence in north Minneapolis after a double homicide and a double attempted murder was something that should have caused alarm bells to ring with regard to city officials and law enforcement officials, and it was a significant failure to not alert north Minneapolis residents,” said activist and lawyer Nekima Levy Armstrong.

“Not only was our safety placed in jeopardy, but it’s possible that north Minneapolis residents could have seen something.”

The Minneapolis Police Department, which notifies the public about fatal shootings and other police matters, did not issue a public information release that day.

At 3:35 p.m., the city shared a social media post with Boelter’s picture and description. At 5:25 p.m., the city sent out a text saying the armed and dangerous suspect was still at large, and anyone who saw him should call 911. Neither explained why Minneapolis residents needed to be wary.

Minneapolis Office of Community Safety spokesperson Scott Wasserman said state investigators took the lead on public information. Police never had “real-time knowledge about Boelter’s whereabouts in Minneapolis,” he said.

“Now that we’ve learned more about Boelter’s movements that day, it’s understandable that residents would wish they had earlier knowledge of information that only later became known to authorities,” Wasserman said. “We are committed to providing timely, accurate information to keep our residents safe. Every situation is different.”

Brooklyn Park was the only Minnesota city on June 14 to trigger the statewide Integrated Public Alert and Warning System. Its order, covering a 3-mile radius of Edinburgh Golf Course, described a white male impersonating law enforcement. Residents were not to answer the door for police unless the officers were in a pair.

Cities don’t send shelter-in-place warnings for every homicide because telling people not to leave their homes scares them, said Brooklyn Park Inspector Matt Rabe. “Of course, Saturday morning was an incredible level of danger to the public.”

Brooklyn Park only lifted the warning after investigators verified that the suspect had left the city.

A detailed timeline of Boelter’s actions isn’t yet available, but from the information that is, the suspect next appeared in north Minneapolis.

“It was the coupling of the video, having someone take a look at it and say, ‘Yes, that’s him,’” Rabe said. “And then also a warrant that was executed by Minneapolis.”

David Carlson, Boelter’s part-time roommate, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that the suspect returned to the house they shared on the 4800 block of Fremont Avenue North around 6 a.m., and Carlson called police.

Emergency logs show a call came from the Fremont house at 7:53 a.m., and Wasserman said police arrived “shortly after” the call.

Around 10 a.m., the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension sought a search warrant for the house because police had surveillance footage showing Boelter wearing a cowboy hat and carrying something in a paper bag as he approached. He wasn’t seen leaving.

“The property owner told law enforcement that he did not think that Boelter was still in his residence but he admitted he did not search,” according to the BCA’s search warrant application.

(The city’s statement, in contrast, said: “Based on the original call to dispatchers during the 7 a.m. hour, the occupant inside the home communicated that Boelter was not in the home.”)

It isn’t clear how Boelter allegedly traveled from the Hortmans’ residence, after ditching his vehicle, to the Fremont Avenue house 5 miles away.

Some residents in between, like Brooklyn Center’s Julie Bourque, have felt unsettled ever since.

“There’s multiple places that potentially could have used some better communication,” Bourque said. “It has highlighted a lot of the gaps that can exist with multi-agency involvement.”

Police surrounded Boelter’s rental house on Fremont Avenue for hours, occupying a house across the street to stage operations.

The across-the-street neighbor, Kameko White, livestreamed it. She told KARE 11 that police said to keep the children away but didn’t explain what was happening.

Another neighbor, Ebony Dobbins, said White’s livestream was the only way she had any clue what was going on.

“I was so shocked that it was happening, and I was confused that Brooklyn Park had a shut-down in place, but the North Side didn’t, and he lived right on the North Side,” Dobbins said. “If it was in the suburbs, it wouldn’t happen like that.”

MPD spokesperson Sgt. Garrett Parten said using a nearby home was not taken lightly, but done to limit disruption to the broader community. The residents consented to be part of the “high-risk warrant operation,” he said.

“Due to the swift and substantial law enforcement presence established around the North Minneapolis residence associated with Vance Boelter and the available information at that time, MPD did not issue a shelter-in-place order,” Parten said.

Wasserman added that police didn’t think there was a specific threat to the community at the time of the search.

Later, it came out that Boelter had been in other parts of north Minneapolis.

A witness saw him with two duffel bags at a bus stop at 48th and N. Lyndale avenues around 7 a.m., according to a federal criminal complaint filed the next day. The two took the bus to the witness’ house, then drove to a bank in Robbinsdale, where Boelter allegedly withdrew money to purchase vehicles from the witness (who claimed no prior connection to Boelter).

Shortly before 6 p.m., Ward 4 City Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw issued a safety alert through her email newsletter. She confirmed the Fremont house’s connection to Boelter but wasn’t aware he had been there earlier that day. (When the Star Tribune mentioned that in an interview, she said it was the first she’d heard of it.)

Still, Vetaw dismissed the notion that north Minneapolis was ever in much danger.

“If we needed a stay-in-place order, it would have happened,” she said. “I really believe all the agencies that were working on that, trying to find him, they were all doing the best that they could.”

Marvina Haynes, who is challenging Vetaw in this year’s city election, said children were playing outside on the day of the shootings, their families unaware that an armed suspect had been nearby.

“This isn’t just about what happened,” she said. “It’s about who is protected, who is warned, and who is left behind.”

City officials could not say when Boelter finally left Minneapolis. He was allegedly spotted again near Green Isle, Minn., the next day.

Many north Minneapolis residents have perceived a double standard in the consideration they received compared to the suburbs, said Shawn Lewis, an advocate for park and public safety issues in north Minneapolis.

“I wish there was more transparency,” he said. “Why do we have to live under some level of duality?”