Former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were fatally shot at their home on Saturday.
Authorities say they’ve captured Vance Boelter, the suspect accused of the slaying of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband, and an attack on a state senator and his wife.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced the arrest just before a press conference held late on Sunday.
“We got him,” Walz wrote on X.
“After a two day manhunt [and] two sleepless nights, law enforcement have apprehended Vance Boelter,” Walz said at a press conference moments later.
He said the assassination was a sign for Americans to come together and “recommit to the core values of this country.”
“[Violence] cannot be the norm,” Walz said.
Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said that Boelter would be charged with two counts of murder for the slaying of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and two counts related to the shooting of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife that left both injured. Federal authorities are exploring the prospect of additional charges.
Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley summarized the scale of the operation, saying, “There’s no question that this is the largest manhunt in the state’s history. Just down at the scene where he was taken to custody, there were 20 different SWAT teams over an extremely large area hunting this individual down to take him into custody.”
Lt. Col. Jeremy Geiger of the Minnesota State Patrol described Boelter’s arrest, applauding that no law enforcement officers were injured during the manhunt. Police officers tracked him to an area around 200th Street in Sibley County, Minnesota, a rural area situated a ways southeast of Minneapolis.
“The suspect crawled to law enforcement teams and was placed under arrest at that point in time … and the suspect was taken into custody without any use of force,” Geiger said.
Evans declined to answer a reporter’s question on whether Boelter had a phone with him at the time of the arrest.
Boelter’s capture comes after a multi-day manhunt involving local, state, and federal authorities.
By Jack Phillips and Joseph Lord
