A phony police uniform, a lifelike silicone mask and a small armory stashed inside a car were essential to an alleged plot to kill Minnesota lawmakers in a chain of shootings over the weekend.
Federal prosecutors said Monday that they had charged Vance Luther Boelter, 57, with murder, stalking and gun crimes in the Saturday shootings that killed former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and injured state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.
Authorities said they launched the “largest manhunt in state history.” Hundreds of law enforcement officers conducted an intensive, two-day search for Mr. Boelter, the primary suspect. Police found Mr. Boelter late Sunday in a field near his home in Green Isle, about 53 miles southwest of Minneapolis.
“Political assassinations are rare. They strike at the very core of our democracy,” acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said during a press briefing. “But the details of Boelter’s crime are even worse. They are truly chilling. It is no exaggeration to say that his crimes are the stuff of nightmares.”
Mr. Boelter appeared in court Monday and was ordered to be kept behind bars. He is due back in court on June 27.
Charging documents accuse Mr. Boelter of crafting a meticulous scheme targeting political leaders in the Twin Cities area. Prosecutors said he went by the homes of two unidentified public officials on the same morning he attacked the Hortman and Hoffman families.
One of the officials was not home at the time of the visit. A police officer checking on the other official’s home said he unwittingly encountered Mr. Boelter, thought he was a police officer and left the area.
Mr. Thompson shared the charges against Mr. Boelter, who could face the death penalty if convicted of federal murder counts. The prosecutor said it was too soon to commit to seeking capital punishment.
Mr. Boelter is also facing murder and attempted murder charges at the state level. Minnesota does not have the death penalty, so execution on state murder charges is impossible.
The U.S. attorney said Mr. Boelter had “voluminous” writings in his house and car, including a list of people, their home addresses and family members. Some of the notes included descriptions of their properties and ways to access them.
Law enforcement officials said over the weekend that the list with Mrs. Hortman’s and Mr. Hoffman’s names also included Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith.
All the lawmakers listed are Democrats, but federal prosecutors have not ascribed a motive.
“I have not seen anything involving some sort of political screed or manifesto that would clearly identify what motivated him,” Mr. Thompson said.
“Obviously, his primary motive was to go out and murder people. They were all elected officials. They were all Democrats. Beyond that, I think it’s just way too speculative for anyone that’s reviewed these materials to know and to say what was motivating him in terms of ideology or specific issues,” he said.
Prosecutors said Mr. Boelter knocked on the door of Mr. Hoffman’s home around 2 a.m. while wearing his fake police uniform and a “hyper realistic” silicone mask. They said emergency lights were flashing from his black SUV.
Home surveillance footage showed the gunman knocking on the family’s door and announcing, “This is the police. Open the door,” officials said.
Authorities said the gunman shined a light in the couple’s face and claimed to be responding to a shooting at the home.
When he lowered the flashlight, the state senator and his wife shouted, “You’re not a cop. You’re not a police officer,” Mr. Thompson said.
Prosecutors said Mr. Boelter then announced, “This is a robbery,” before barging into the house and shooting Mr. Hoffman and his wife several times.
Mr. Hoffman and his wife remained hospitalized Monday.
“John is enduring many surgeries right now and is closer every hour to being out of the woods,” Mrs. Hoffman said in a statement to U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who shared it with the public. “He took 9 bullet hits. I took 8 and we are both incredibly lucky to be alive.”
Authorities said Mr. Boelter next traveled to another official’s home in Maple Grove but did not get an answer after banging on the door and saying he was a police officer. Court filings said the official, whose identity was not specified, was not home.
Around 2:35 a.m., a New Hope police officer went to check on the home of a different public official and saw Mr. Boelter sitting in his SUV down the street from the residence, prosecutors said.
Court documents said the officer, who thought he saw a fellow cop based on the SUV model and its light bar on top, tried speaking with the driver and got no answer.
The next stop was the Hortman family’s house in Brooklyn Park. Minnesota state Sen. Ann Rest, a Democrat, released a statement saying the assailant was idling outside her home before targeting the Hortmans.
Brooklyn Park police said they sent officers to the Hortmans’ home for a wellness check after hearing about the attack on the Hoffman family.
Police arrived to find the gunman shooting at Mr. Hortman through an open door.
Officers exchanged gunfire with the masked assailant, who darted into the home and managed to escape. Mrs. Hortman was found dead inside from gunshot wounds.
Police said they found five guns, including assault-style rifles with large amounts of ammunition, while searching the abandoned SUV. The affidavit said officers also recovered several notebooks full of handwritten notes.
“Listed among the pages of those notebooks were the names of more than 45 Minnesota state and federal public officials, including Rep. Hortman, whose home address was written next to her name,” the affidavit said.
The notes further described the Hortmans’ home: “Big house off golf course 2 ways in to watch from one spot.”
Authorities found a discarded handgun registered to Mr. Boelter near the Hortmans’ home and learned that the SUV, with a fake license plate saying “police,” was in his name.
Law enforcement used Mr. Boelter’s link to the scene to track his wife’s cellphone and pulled her over in Mille Lacs County. Officers said they found two guns, $10,000 in cash and passports for her and her children, who were riding in the vehicle.
Court documents said Mr. Boelter texted his wife and other family members in a group chat, saying, “Dad went to war last night. … I don’t wanna say more because I don’t wanna implicate anybody.”
In a separate text to his wife, Mr. Boelter allegedly wrote, “Words are not gonna explain how sorry I am for this situation. … There’s gonna be some people coming to the house armed and trigger-happy and I don’t want you guys around.”
The filing said officers eventually traced Mr. Boelter to a home in north Minneapolis. A witness said he sold Mr. Boelter a Buick and an electric bike. Both vehicles were later spotted near Mr. Boelter’s family home in Green Isle. The Buick was found abandoned along State Highway 25.
Inside the car, officers found a handwritten letter signed by a “Dr. Vance Luther Boelter” and addressed to the FBI, prosecutors said. The letter admitted to the shootings of the Hortman and Hoffman families.
Mr. Boelter was arrested around 9 p.m. local time Sunday in a field near his family home.
