Authorities have released photos of the 57-year-old man that is the suspected shooter of two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses early Saturday morning.
Vance Luther Boelter is wanted in connection with the fatal shooting of state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, at their home in Brooklyn Park, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office. Melissa Hortman was pronounced dead at the scene. Her husband later died at the hospital.
Roughly five miles away in Champlin, state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were also shot and wounded at their home. Both were hospitalized and are expected to survive.
Hortman and Hoffman are Democrats who represent portions of the northwest Twin Cities metro.
Boelter was last seen Saturday morning in Minneapolis, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said. He is described as 6 feet 1 inch tall, weighing about 220 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. At the time he was last spotted, he was wearing a light-colored cowboy hat, a dark long-sleeve shirt, light pants and carrying a dark bag.
“He should be considered armed and dangerous,” BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said in a news briefing. “Investigators believe he is attempting to leave the Twin Cities area.”
Evans noted that Boelter and Hortman had attended some of the same public meetings, but said it remains unclear if they knew each other personally.
“We still don’t know if additional people are involved, but this individual is the one we’re looking at as a person of interest right now,” Evans said. “There may be others with him, and we’d like to speak to anyone who has had contact with him.”
Later Saturday, the FBI released a surveillance photo that appears to show Boelter dressed in a police-style uniform and wearing a mask outside one of the lawmakers’ homes. The agency is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to Boelter’s arrest and conviction.
“This was a deliberate and violent attack on public servants and their families,” said Alvin M. Winston Sr., special agent in charge of the FBI’s Minneapolis office. “We are using every available resource to locate and apprehend Vance Boelter. No detail is too small—public vigilance is critical.”
Anyone with information is urged to call the FBI tipline at 877-996-6222 or email bca.tips@state.mn.us.
