Suspect ID’d in Attack on Minnesota Lawmakers: Live Updates
Two Minnesota lawmakers were shot, and one was killed, in what Governor Tim Walz and law-enforcement officials believe were politically motivated attacks early Saturday. State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed, while State Senator John Hoffman and his wife were wounded in a separate attack but survived. The suspected gunman, Vance Boelter — who posed as a police officer and had a target list in his vehicle with the names of 70 people including numerous other Minnesota lawmakers — remains at large and a manhunt is underway. Below is what we know.
• An unoccupied vehicle which belongs to Boelter was found Sunday in Sibley County on the side of the road a few miles from his home near the town of Green Isle. The discovery prompted a road closure and an emergency alert to the mobile phones of nearby residents (who were not asked to shelter in place).
• During a Meet the Press interview on Sunday morning, Senator Amy Klobuchar said that authorities believe the suspect is still somewhere in the midwest, and that an alert had also been put out in South Dakota — though NBC News has not been able to verify that.
• On Saturday, Boelter’s wife and three other relatives were detained in Onamia, which is more than a hundred miles from the Boelter’s home.
• More information has been revealed about the suspect’s so-called manifesto and target list. Per the Star Tribune:
What law enforcement first described as a “manifesto” penned by the man sought in the the shootings that killed and wounded state legislators and their spouses is primarily made up lists of lawmakers and abortion providers, and was found at several locations rather than discovered in just one place, officials said Sunday.
The description sheds light on written materials believed to be at the center of the search for Vance Boelter, who was last seen in surveillance video Saturday morning in Minneapolis, but is believed to have fled the Twin Cities.
The FBI offers a reward of up to $50,000 for info leading to the arrest and conviction of Vance L. Boelter, suspected of shooting two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses at their residences on June 14, 2025: https://t.co/XjawGOt5lq pic.twitter.com/tZ9RE97OHk
Police have identified the suspected gunman as Vance Boelter, 57, from Green Isle, Minnesota. The Wall Street Journal has more on his known background:
Boelter had built a scattered career that included food companies, retailing and pastoring, public records and his online posts show. He has been living with his wife in a rural area outside the Twin Cities, and then staying a few nights a week at a rental home in a working-class Minneapolis neighborhood with a couple of roommates. Boelter was working overnight shifts for an organization that handles eye donations, said one roommate, David Carlson, and was trying to get a security firm off the ground. …
Online posts paint a picture of Boelter as a devout Christian and pastor, who preached at LaBorne Matadi, a church in the Congo, according to photos on the church’s Facebook page. An archived website for his ministry described his global travels to preach, stating, “He sought out militant Islamists in order to share the gospel and tell them that violence wasn’t the answer.”
He quit most of his jobs before his last trip to Africa and was struggling to build back a solid income, Carlson said. A website for Praetorian Guard Security Services lists Boelter as part of the leadership and advertises armed residential security and personnel who drive police-style vehicles. “We drive the same make and model of vehicles that many police departments use in the U.S. Currently we drive Ford Explorer Utility Vehicles,” the site says. Law enforcement said a black police cruiser was seen at the lawmakers’ homes. Nobody answered the company’s phone line Saturday.
State records confirm Boelter’s past appointments to the Governor’s Workforce Development Board, first by former Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and then by current Democratic Gov. Tim Walz. Governors appoint thousands of people of all parties to boards and commissions created by the legislature for unpaid roles. This particular board has about 60 people, including Republican and Democratic representatives from business, education, unions and community groups.
The two victims who survived the attacks, State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, are continuing to recover after surgery and are listed in stable condition as of Saturday night. Their nephew told the Star Tribune that Yvette “is alert and awake.”
A memorial is growing at the Minnesota Capitol for Rep. Melissa Hortman who was shot and killed this morning in her home.
A manhunt is underway for the man suspected of killing her, her husband, and shooting Sen. Hoffman and his wife.#breakingnews #minnesota #mnpol #politics pic.twitter.com/3w0GzeA5Og
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