Prosecutor says suspect in shooting of two Minnesota state lawmakers had planned to attack others

MINNEAPOLIS — The man accused of killing a Minnesota lawmaker and wounding another went to the homes of two other lawmakers to carry out more carnage on the night of the shootings, a federal prosecutor said.

But one of the other lawmakers was not home and the suspect left the other house after police arrived, acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said at a press conference Monday.

The suspect, Vance Boelter, surrendered to police Sunday after they found him in the woods near his home following a massive manhunt that began early Saturday near Minneapolis. He is accused of posing as a police officer and fatally shooting former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home early Saturday in the northern Minneapolis suburbs. Authorities say he also shot Sen. John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette. They were injured at their residence about 9 miles away.

The 57-year-old Boelter was charged with federal murder, stalking offenses. He already faces state charges, including murder and attempted murder.

“Boelter planned his attack carefully” by researching his intended victims and their families and conducting surveillance of their homes and taking notes, Thompson said. Though the targets were Democrats and elected officials, Thompson said it was too soon to speculate on any sort of political ideology that could explain his motives.

Thompson said it was too early to say if the Justice Department would seek the death penalty but noted that that was among the options available to the government based on the charges. The counts charged in the criminal complaint could be amended by prosecutors as they pursue a grand jury indictment as a prerequisite for bringing the case to trial.

Authorities declined to name the two other elected officials whom Boelter allegedly stalked but who escaped harm. But it was clear the shootings were politically motivated, they said..

“This was a targeted attack against individuals who answered the call to public service,” said Alvin Winston, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Minneapolis field office. The resulting search, he said, was the largest manhunt in the history of the state.