Authorities arrested suspected shooter of Minnesota Senators
Police caught Minnesota Sen. Melissa Hortman and her husband Vance Luther Boerter, the man accused of murdering Minnesota Senator Melissa Hortman and her husband, and injured the state senator and his wife.
Federal court documents, released Monday, shed light on what investigators say the 57-year-old man had carried out what he called a “political assassination” in which the Minnesota Senator died and left another wounded.
Vance Belter was arrested late Sunday following Minnesota’s biggest manhunt in history, authorities said. Federal prosecutors accused him of several counts of murder and stalkers in the murder of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark. Belter is also facing charges in the shooting of State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.
Investigators say Bolter “experienced research” and planned the June 14 attack. He compiled a list of mostly democratic state legislators and their speeches. His SUV was equipped with lights and fake license plates that resemble police squad cars. He purchased a silicon mask and a weapon cache, according to a 20-page affidavit filed in federal court.
Boelter “has embarked on a planned campaign of stalkers and violence designed to scare, injure and kill the Minnesota Legislature and members of its family,” the affidavit said.
“To say his crime is like a nightmare is not an exaggeration,” Minnesota’s acting lawyer, Joseph Thompson, said at a press conference.
According to the federal affidavit, this is a timeline for shooting and searching to find Bortoll.
Shooting at Hoffman’s house: “This is the police.”
At about 2am on Saturday, June 14th, Boerter drove to the home of Minnesota Sen. John Hoffman, Champlin, about 20 miles northwest of Minneapolis. Video footage from the house shows Hoffman in the entrance wearing a black tactical vest and a flesh-colored mask. He repeatedly knocked on the door and cried out, “This is the police. Open the door.”
Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, both came to the door and told them that Boerter was there in response to the shooting. After a short exchange, Hoffmans looks at Boerter better and realizes he is wearing a mask. One or both said he was not a real police officer. According to the FBI, Bolter said, “This is a robber.”
John Hoffman tried to push Boerter back into the front door, but Boerter repeatedly shot him before turning the gun at Yvette Hoffman, court documents say. At about 2:06am, Hoffman’s adult daughter called 911 and reported that her parents had been shot by a masked gunman.
Bolter appears at the second lawmaker’s house
At about 2:24am, Boerter (still wearing tactical gear and mask) arrived at the front door of the state legislator in Maple Grove, about 10 miles from Champlin.
He rings the doorbell over and over again, “This is the police. Open the door. This is the police. We have a warrant,” the court document says.
The lawmakers not named in court records were not home. Bolter left.
The officer tries to talk to Volter outside a third party’s house.
Law enforcement in New Hope, Minnesota, learned of the shooting at Hoffman’s home and sent officers to the home of an unknown elected official who lived in the area, the affidavit says.
At about 2:36am, officers encountered a man believed to be a Boerter in an SUV parked down the street from a state official’s home. The SUV believed it belonged to a law enforcement officer with a light and a fake license plate, so officers rose by the vehicle to try to talk to the man.
The man “he continued to stare at him and didn’t respond,” the affidavit says.
The affidavit said officers drove into the lawmaker’s house, waiting for other law enforcement agencies to arrive, seeing them as “there are no signs of pain.” By the time they did, Bolters were gone.
According to the affidavit, her husband Melissa Hortmann suspects he will be fatally shot
At about 3:30am, law enforcement in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, went to Rep. Melissa Hortman’s home to conduct a safety check. Outside the house, officers saw a black SUV with flashing lights. They then saw the suspect wearing a suspect – a mask and tactical gear facing the front door.
After a while, the suspect fired several gunshots and moved to the house. There, you could hear a second gunshot, the record says. Inside, officers find Holtiman, who was wounded by a bullet and seriously injured by a dog. Melissa and Mark Hortman were later declared dead.
Belter fled the house and escaped to an area with a forest. Investigators found a 9mm handgun and a mask outside the house. In the SUV, investigators retrieved five firearms and several notebooks filled with handwritten notes. His writings included more than 45 Minnesota names, as well as the names of federal civil servants, including Hortman.
After filming, a suspicious text family: “Dad went to war last night.”
In a federal complaint, the FBI says Boerter sent multiple texts to his wife and his family a few hours after the shooting.
In a group chat with his wife and children, he sent the following message at 6:18am:
At about the same time, his wife received another message from Boerter. “I’m not going to explain in words how sorry I am about this situation… there will be people who will come armed with Trigger Happy homes, and I don’t want to be around you.”
Running on the Volter: Buy e-bike, Buick, Pen letter to the FBI
At 7am, the man said he had first met Bolter at a bus stop in northern Minneapolis. Belter carrying two duffel bags asked if he could buy an e-bike from the man. The man agreed and the two boarded the bus heading to the man’s house, court documents say.
Belter was then seen at a bank in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, where he withdraws $2,200 and empties the account. The bank camera caught him wearing a cowboy hat. He bought an e-bike and a Buick car from a man he met earlier at the bus stop.
On Sunday, June 15th, police received hints that a man was riding an e-bike in the area of the Boerter family home in Green Isle, Minnesota. Police soon found Buick Boerter, purchased near the reported e-bike sighting. In the car, police found a cowboy hat and a letter addressed to the FBI. This was said by the writer that “Dr. Vance Luther Berter” had fired the day before.
At 9:10pm, Boerter raw out of the wooded area and surrendered to law enforcement. He was taken into custody for about a mile from his family home.