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Boelter, who was believed to be armed, gave up without struggle in a rural area west of Minneapolis. He also is accused of shooting and wounding Democratic State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette, authorities say. Both survivors are now in a hospital recovering, and both have said they feel “incredibly lucky to be alive.”
Investigation and reaction by authorities
The suspect was located after a car that he was believed to have used was located in Sibley County, 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the crime scene in Brooklyn Park. Air and SWAT units participated in what the authorities said was the largest manhunt in the history of the state. No police officers were injured during the arrest.
“This is an unspeakable act,” said the governor, Tim Walz, who addressed the news media Saturday at a press conference and said the violence had traumatized the state. “This cannot become the norm,” he said, reiterating intolerance for political foes resorting to acts of violence. Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis also applauded law enforcement officers for their response, calling the attack “abhorrent” and specifically highlighting the importance of accountability in the situation.
Background on suspect and emerging evidence
Boelter is accused of pretending to be a police officer when the assaults occurred on Saturday, according to authorities. He was said to have traded shots with police before escaping.
Melissa Hortman had been a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives for two decades, and was speaker from 2019 to 2025. Boelter, a political appointee who once sat on the state workforce development board alongside Hoffman. He was also employed as a security contractor and missionary in Africa and the Middle East, and preached briefly as a pastor in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
At least one page of potential “targets” was found in a car Boelter had access to, investigators said. The notebook also contained a list of names, although it was not referred to as a “manifesto.” Although authorities have not confirmed the names on that list, local media reports say it included Governor Tim Walz, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Officials in other Midwestern states, including Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska and Iowa, have been notified to warn people who may have been included.
