(AFP) – Prosecutors in Minnesota plan to bring first-degree murder charges against the suspected killer of a Democratic state lawmaker and her husband, officials said Monday. The suspect, 57-year-old Vance Boelter, allegedly disguised himself as a police officer, then shot and killed Democratic state representative Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark at their home early Saturday.
“Our office intends to pursue first-degree murder charges against Mr. Boelter,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty told a press conference. “The penalty would be life without parole.” She thanked law enforcement personnel who mounted the largest manhunt in state history before apprehending him without using force late Sunday. “People were understandably terrified over the last couple days,” she said.
Boelter is also suspected of shooting state Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette in their home. They survived despite multiple gunshot wounds and were being treated for serious injuries, authorities said. Boelter was taken into custody in a rural area about an hour southwest of the Minneapolis suburbs where the killings occurred, police and state officials said. SWAT teams used drones to identify the suspect’s location, and officers crawled through ditches in the area’s farm fields to confine him, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported.
He was being held at Hennepin County jail and was scheduled to appear in court at 1:30 pm (1830 GMT) on Monday, jail records showed. Moriarty said Boelter was due to be handed over to federal officials and that federal charges were also expected.
A notebook containing the names of other lawmakers and potential targets was found inside a car left by Boelter at the Hortmans’ home. The attacks renewed fears of growing political violence in America. “I am concerned about all our political leaders, political organizations,” US Senator Amy Klobuchar, who represents Minnesota, said Sunday.
“It was politically motivated, and there clearly was some throughline with abortion because of the groups that were on the list, and other things that I’ve heard were in this manifesto. So that was one of his motivations.” As speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2019 to January 2025, Hortman was committed to legislation that protected reproductive rights in the state, local media reported.
The United States is bitterly divided politically as President Donald Trump embarks on his second term, implementing hardline policies and routinely insulting his opponents. Political violence has become more common. Trump himself survived an assassination attempt last year, with a second attempt foiled by law enforcement. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s home was set on fire this year. An assailant with a hammer attacked the husband of then-US House speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2022.
“(This is) a moment in this country where we watch violence erupt,” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said after the arrest. “This cannot be the norm. It cannot be the way that we deal with our political differences.” The shootings shook the nation on a day when hundreds of thousands of protesters across the United States took to the streets to rally against Trump, as he presided over a military parade in Washington.
Trump has condemned the attacks in Minnesota on the lawmakers and their spouses. The president was asked in a Sunday interview with ABC News if he planned to call Walz, who was Kamala Harris’s running mate in the election Trump won last year. “Well, it’s a terrible thing. I think he’s a terrible governor. I think he’s a grossly incompetent person,” Trump said. “But I may, I may call him, I may call other people too.”
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