A man suspected of shooting two state Democratic lawmakers was arrested late Sunday after authorities tracked him into an area with crops and woodlands in rural Minnesota, authorities said.
The capture of 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter ended a two-day manhunt that left the community on edge. He is wanted by police in connection with the killings of state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband and the shootings of Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman.
State prosecutors are charging Boelter with murder, authorities said. Additional federal charges may be forthcoming.
The Democratic politicians were shot early Saturday morning in what Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called an act of “targeted political violence.” The shootings were the latest in a surge of violence against elected officials in the U.S.
“One man’s unthinkable actions have altered the state of Minnesota,” Walz said at a news conference Sunday night where he called the search that led to the arrest a “complex and dangerous manhunt.” undefined undefined Authorities said the suspect had been spotted in the area before a large contingent of law-enforcement officials descended on his location. He was armed, but crawled to the police and they took him into custody in a field in Green Isle without any use of force.
State prosecutors are charging Boelter with murder, authorities said. Additional federal charges may be forthcoming.
Law-enforcement officers, in what they described as the largest manhunt in the state’s history, searched properties on Sunday 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 secure. Boelter lives in the county, southwest of where the shootings unfolded.
Authorities earlier said they found a list in the suspect’s vehicle that named other public officials. It had dozens of names, including prominent individuals who support abortion rights in Minnesota, as well many Democratic lawmakers, and also abortion providers, according to an official who has seen the document.
Law enforcement spoke with several members of Boelter’s family, including his wife, who was carrying passports and cash when police stopped her near a convenience store about 70 miles north of the shootings, an official said.
The shootings were “politically motivated, and there clearly was some throughline with abortion because of the groups that were on the list,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat of Minnesota, on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday.
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.
“Thank you to all in law enforcement who worked relentlessly to locate and arrest this suspect,” Klobuchar said in a statement after the arrest. “It was a mammoth and heroic effort.”
The senator told NBC that she was with 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 Walz, a Democrat, called her at 5 a.m. Saturday to tell her about Hortman’s death.
Klobuchar said Hoffman and his wife “are hanging in there.” She later shared a message from Yvette Hoffman, who said she and her husband were “incredibly lucky to be alive” after being shot multiple times.
John Hoffman completed his final surgery and is moving toward recovery, Walz said on Sunday evening.
On Sunday morning, Hortman’s home in Brooklyn Park was surrounded by yellow police tape. Plywood covered the front door and several windows. A police cruiser 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 half a mile to see the house.
“It’s shocking,” she said, noting that she and her husband had lived in the area since 1993 and consider it very safe. The couple got an alert from the police to shelter in place on Saturday around 5:30 a.m. They weren’t allowed to leave until 3:30 p.m., she said.
Records show that Boelter lived with his family in a house in rural Green Isle, Minn., about an hour’s drive from Hortman’s home. He stayed a few nights a week at a rental home in Minneapolis with roommates.
One of his roommates, David Carlson, said Boelter was working overnight shifts for an organization that handles eye donations while trying to get a private security company off the ground. Boelter has also served as a Christian preacher, including at a church in the Congo.
On Saturday, Carlson said he woke to a text from Boelter saying he was “going to be gone for a while” and “may be dead shortly.” Carlso said he called the police.
Boelter had voted for President Trump and was against abortion, Carlson said.
Flowers and hand-written sit at a memorial outside the Minnesota State Capitol in honor of Democratic state assemblywoman Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, after a gunman killed them, in St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S., June 15, 2025. REUTERS/Tim Evans
Police responded to the shootings around 2 a.m. Saturday. Police were called first to Hoffman’s home. Officers then went to check on Hortman’s home around 3:35 a.m. and spotted the suspect emerging from her house, said Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley. The suspect was dressed as a police officer and there was an SUV in the driveway with emergency lights on, according to 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 (D., N.Y.) asked that lawmakers be given a briefing on security once they return from a recess. “The level of threat that lawmakers are exposed to is just unacceptable,” said Sen. Tina Smith (D., Minn.)
Write to Sadie Gurman at sadie.gurman@wsj.com , John McCormick at mccormick.john@wsj.com and Alyssa Lukpat at alyssa.lukpat@wsj.com
