Surveillance footage captured an attempted murder, according to charges unsealed Sunday: A man wearing a mask, a blue shirt and police-style tactical vest with a badge knocked on a door in Champlin and announced himself as a police officer. He then entered the house and shot Minnesota Sen. John Hoffman and his wife.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office also charged Vance Luther Boelter, who was arrested Sunday night after a two-day search, with the murders of Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their Brooklyn Park home.
Jail booking photo of Vance Luther Boelter. (Courtesy of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office)
Boelter, of Green Isle, Minn., in Sibley County, was charged Saturday, the day of the shootings.
“Boelter exploited the trust our uniforms are meant to represent,” Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson said Sunday night. “That betrayal is deeply disturbing to those of us who wear the badge with honor and responsibility.”
The criminal complaint, unsealed after Boelter was taken into custody, gives the following information:
Champlin police responded at 2:05 a.m. Saturday after a 911 caller reported a masked person came to their door and shot their parents. Police found John and Yvette Hoffman injured inside. They both remain hospitalized and are recovering.
Video footage from outside the residence showed a Ford sport-utility vehicle with police-style lights parked in the driveway. The video also captured a man dressed to look like an officer walking to the door, shooting and then fleeing in his vehicle.
After Brooklyn Park police learned about the shooting, because one of the victims in Champlin serves as a state legislator, “police proactively sent patrol officers” to Hortman’s Brooklyn Park home.
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Officers arrived about 3:35 a.m. and saw the Ford SUV with police-style lights. They “immediately saw (Boelter), still dressed as a police officer, shoot an adult man … through the open door of the home,” the complaint said.
Police exchanged gunfire with the suspect, identified as Boelter. He fled inside the residence before escaping the area.
Officers found Melissa and Mark Hortman mortally wounded in their home.
Police searched Boelter’s vehicle, which was registered to him, and found at least three AK-47 rifles, a 9mm handgun, and a list of names and addresses of other public officials. In a canvass of the area, police located a ballistic vest, a disassembled 9mm firearm, a mask and a gold police-style badge.
Boelter was listed as the purchaser for at least four of the firearms that were found.
Investigators spoke “with a person familiar” with Boelter who identified him as the man on the Champlin residence surveillance footage.
The county attorney’s office charged Boelter with two counts of intentional second-degree murder, not premediated, and two counts of attempted murder.
Law enforcement arrested Boelter Sunday night in Sibley County. The county attorney’s office is seeking bail of $5 million.
Boelter is scheduled to make his first court appearance Monday afternoon. It wasn’t immediately known whether he was represented by an attorney.
State law enforcement is working with federal law enforcement, who are examining whether additional charges should be brought at the federal level, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said Sunday night.