Members of law enforcement agencies search for shooting suspect, Vance Boelter, at a house Sunday, June 15, 2025, in Belle Plaine, Minn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

The man suspected of killing a Minnesota lawmaker and wounding another faces murder charges after police arrested him Sunday near his home following a nearly two-day search.

Vance Boelter 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 and wounded Sen. John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, at their home in a nearby neighborhood. They also said he visited the homes of two other state legislators but did not encounter them, and officials in other states reported Monday that they were on his list of targets.

Here’s what to know about the shootings and the suspect:

What charges does the suspect face?

Federal authorities were holding the 57-year-old Boelter without bail after his first appearance Monday in federal court on murder and stalking charges. He also faces state murder charges.

Minnesota does not have the death penalty. Federal law allows it to be imposed, but acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said during a news conference Monday that it's too early to say whether his office with seek the death penalty.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said during a news conference that she plans to file first-degree murder charges against Boelter. First-degree murder covers premeditated killings, and the punishment for a conviction is life in prison without parole.

Thompson said Boelter planned his attacks carefully, researching intended victims and their families and conducting surveillance of their homes. Authorities have not given a motive for the shootings.

Were other Minnesota lawmakers targeted?

Boelter went to four Democratic lawmakers' homes in the northern Minneapolis suburbs in about 90 minutes early Saturday, starting with Hoffman's and ending with Hortman's, according to authorities.

In between, they said, he stopped at the home of a lawmaker they didn't name, but the legislator was not home.

Democratic state Sen. Ann Rest said he parked near her home in New Hope. Authorities said police there had sent an officer to check on Rest, and the officer drove up beside Boelter's black SUV, believing him to be an officer as well. When he wouldn't talk to her, she went on to Rest's house to wait for other officers, and Boelter left to go to Hortman's home, they said.

Rest, 83, has served in the Legislature for 40 years and in the Senate since 2001. She is chair of the Senate tax committee. Although some fellow Democrats wanted to raise taxes this year to help with budget challenges, Rest opposed general tax increases.

What about officials in other states?

Thompson said a list of about 45 names of Minnesota state and federal elected officials were found in writings recovered from a fake police vehicle left at the crime scene — some names appearing more than once. Authorities also have said the list included community leaders, along with abortion-rights advocates and information about health care facilities, according to the officials.

Elected officials in at least three other states said law enforcement officials have told them they were among Boelter's targets, as well. They include Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Democratic U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman of Ohio. In Michigan, Democratic U.S. Reps. Hillary Scholten and Debbie Dingell confirmed they were on Boelter's lists of targets, and Scholten postponed a Monday evening town hall.

Who is Vance Boelter?

The search for Boelter was the “largest manhunt in the state’s history,” Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said. It ended Sunday in rural Sibley County, southwest of Minneapolis, where he lived.

Authorities spotted an abandoned vehicle that Boelter had been using, and an officer reported he believed he saw Boelter running into the woods, police said. He eventually surrendered.

Friends and former colleagues interviewed by the The Associated Press describe Boelter as a devout Christian who attended an evangelical church and went to campaign rallies for President Donald Trump.

He held deeply religious and politically conservative views, telling a congregation in Africa two years ago that the U.S. was in a “bad place” where most churches didn’t oppose abortion.

His friends also say that he didn’t talk about politics often and didn’t seem extreme. Sibley County Sheriff Patrick Nienaber said Boelter was not on their radar before the shootings.

"We had no problems with him,” Nienaber said in a brief phone interview with AP.

Who were the victims?

Melissa Hortman was a lifelong Minneapolis-area resident who rose to become a powerful Democratic leader in the state's deeply divided Legislature.

Elected to the Minnesota House in 2004, she helped pass liberal initiatives like free lunches for public school students in 2023 as the chamber’s speaker. This year, she helped break a budget impasse that threatened to shut down state government.

State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, who were shot at their home in Champlin, a Minneapolis suburb, were recovering from multiple gunshot wounds.

Hoffman is chair of the Senate committee overseeing human resources spending.

He also served on a state workforce development board with Boelter, who was twice appointed to the board. It was not clear if they knew each other.

___

Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin; Joey Cappelletti and Isabella Volmert in Lansing, Michigan; Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis; Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio; and Rio Yamat in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

News from © The Associated Press, 2025