US assassination suspect Vance Luther Boelter caught after two-day hunt

The man suspected of shooting two state Democratic politicians in the US state of Minnesota has been arrested in rural woods.

Vance Luther Boelter, the suspected Minnesota assassin, has been arrested near his home. Picture: Fox 9

The man suspected of shooting two state Democratic politicians was arrested late on Sunday (local time) after authorities tracked him into the woods in rural Minnesota, law enforcement officials said.

The capture of 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter ended a two-day manhunt that left the community on edge. He is wanted in connection with the killings of state Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, and the shootings of Senator John Hoffman and wife Yvette.

The Democratic politicians were shot early on Saturday morning in what Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called an act of “targeted political violence”.

Mr Boelter is believed to have posed as a police officer to gain access to Ms Hortman’s Brooklyn Park home, according to law enforcement officials. The politician, 55, and husband Mark were fatally shot there.

Officers on Sunday searched properties in Sibley County after a vehicle that may have been used by the suspect was found along a local highway, according to the sheriff’s office. Residents were told to keep their doors locked and vehicles secured. Mr Boelter lives in the county, southwest of where the shootings occurred.

Authorities earlier said they found a list in Mr Boelter’s vehicle bearing the names of other public officials. The list had dozens of names, including prominent individuals who support abortion rights in Minnesota, and also abortion providers, as well as many Democratic politicians, according to an official who had seen it.

The shootings were “politically motivated, and there clearly was some throughline with abortion because of the groups that were on the list”, Minnesota Democratic US senator Amy Klobuchar said on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday morning.

Senator Klobuchar, the senior senator from Minnesota, is mentioned in the suspect’s writings, according to a person with knowledge of a briefing on the subject.

Senator Klobuchar said she was with Ms Hortman and her husband at a “big political dinner” the night before the killings. “That was the last time so many of us saw Melissa and Mark.” She said Mr Walz, a Democrat, called her at 5am local time on Saturday to tell her about the Hortmans’ deaths.

Senator Klobuchar said Senator Hoffman and his wife “are hanging in there”. She shared a message from Ms Hoffman, who said she and her husband were “incredibly lucky to be alive” after being shot multiple times.

Ms Hortman’s home in Brooklyn Park was surrounded by yellow police tape on Sunday morning. A police vehicle and several media teams were parked across the street.

Alka Dabade, a retiree who lives about one hole away on the golf course behind the Hortman home, walked about a kilometre to see the house.

“It’s shocking,” she said, adding that she and her husband had lived in the area since 1993 and considered it very safe.

Police search near a vehicle suspected to belong to shooting suspect Vance Luther Boelter on Sunday. Picture: George Walker IV/AP

A police officer trains his rifle towards a house as officers search for Boelter in Belle Plaine, Minnesota. AP Photo/George Walker IV

Records show Mr Boelter lived with his family in a house in rural Green Isle, Minnesota, about an hour’s drive from the Hortmans’ home. He stayed a few nights a week at a rental home in Minneapolis with roommates.

One of his roommates, David Carlson, said Mr Boelter was working overnight shifts for an organisation that handles eye donations while trying to get a private security company off the ground.

Mr Boelter has also served as a Christian preacher, including at a church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Mr Carlson said he woke on Saturday to a text from Mr Boelter saying he was “going to be gone for a while” and “may be dead shortly”. Mr Carlson said he called police.

Mr Boelter had voted for President Donald Trump and was against abortion, Mr Carlson said. Police responded to the shootings around 2am on Saturday.

Police were called first to the Hoffmans’ home. Officers then went to check on Ms Hortman’s home around 3.35am and spotted the suspect emerging from her house, Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said.

The suspect was dressed as a police officer and there was an SUV in the driveway with emergency lights on, according to Mr Bruley. The suspect, who wore a badge and police gear, retreated into the house and escaped on foot out the back, he said.

Political figures from across the spectrum condemned the shootings, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer asked that politicians be given a briefing on security once they return from a recess.

“The level of threat that politicians are exposed to is just unacceptable,” said Senator Tina Smith, a Democrat from Minnesota.

The Wall Street Journal