Federal prosecutors unveiled homicide and stalking costs Monday in opposition to the person suspected of capturing two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses, accusing him of visiting two different officers’ properties and forsaking a pocket book crammed with dozens of different names.
Vance Boelter, 57, was arrested on state homicide costs Sunday night time after a two-day manhunt. Minnesota doesn’t have the demise penalty, however federal prosecutors might attempt to execute him if Boelter is convicted on his six new federal costs.
Authorities say Boelter shot and killed former Minnesota Democratic Home Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, at their dwelling early Saturday. He additionally stands accused of injuring state Sen. John Hoffman (D) and his spouse Yvette in a capturing at their dwelling about 8 miles away the identical morning.
In line with a newly unsealed affidavit, Boelter additionally visited the properties of two different elected officers that morning. Neither official was recognized, however Boelter allegedly left one home after discovering that nobody was dwelling, and police noticed him in a darkish SUV on the different earlier than he drove off.
Boelter faces a stalking cost for every lawmaker he shot, homicide costs for the killings of Hortman and her husband and two counts of utilizing a firearm throughout against the law of violence.
Joe Thompson, the performing U.S. lawyer for Minnesota, at a Monday press convention saying the fees stated Boelter “stalked his victims like prey.”
“It is no exaggeration to say this is the stuff of nightmares,” Thompson stated.
He declined to say whether or not he would search the demise penalty however didn’t rule it out.
“It’s too early to tell, but that is one of the options for several of the charges,” he stated.
The brand new affidavit gives essentially the most detailed account but of Boelter’s alleged actions.
When fleeing the Hortmans’ dwelling, the ultimate one he visited, he allegedly left behind his SUV, the place police discovered 5 firearms and a “large quantity” of ammunition. Additionally they found a number of notebooks crammed with the names of greater than 45 Minnesota state and federal public officers and lists of internet-based serps to question individuals’s addresses, the paperwork present.
“This was a targeted attack against individuals who answered the call to public service,” Alvin Winston, particular agent in cost on the FBI’s Minneapolis discipline workplace, stated at Monday’s press convention.
Within the surrounding space, the affidavit says police found the facemask Boelter purportedly wore and a Beretta 92 9mm semiautomatic handgun he bought in 2000.
The paperwork point out Boetler texted his household group chat simply after 6 a.m. that morning, writing, “Dad went to war last night…. I don’t wanna say more because I don’t wanna implicate anybody.”
“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,” Boelter texted his spouse in a separate message, in keeping with the affidavit. She gave authorities consent to look her telephone.
Police arrested Boelter Sunday night time after discovering his Buick, which he allegedly bought on Saturday from an unnamed witness, deserted on the facet of a freeway.
Within the Buick, authorities say they discovered a letter, authored by somebody claiming to be Boelter, that admits to being “the shooter at large in Minnesota involved in the 2 shootings the morning of Saturday June 15th.”
—Miriam Waldvogel contributed to this report, which was final up to date at 1:33 p.m. EDT
