The search for a man accused of shooting two Democratic Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses continued into Sunday, as authorities struggled to find suspected gunman Vance Boelter.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said authorities don’t think the 57-year-old Boelter made it very far after the attacks in two northwest Twin Cities suburbs.
“We believe he’s somewhere in the vicinity and that they are going to find him,” Klobuchar said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “But right now, everyone’s on edge here because we know that this man will kill at a second.”
Hundreds of law enforcement officers were part of the search for Boelter on Sunday and the FBI offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. Members of the public were advised to call 911 and not approach Boelter if they spotted him.
Boelter shot and wounded Democratic state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their home in Champlin before dawn on Saturday, authorities said.
He then drove about 9 miles to the Brooklyn Park home of former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and fatally shot them, according to investigators.
Responding officers spotted Boelter at the second scene and he took off on foot, police said. Cops said Boelter is about 6-foot-1 and weighs around 220 pounds. Investigators said he was impersonating a police officer during the attacks.
“No question, if (Boelter) were in this room, you would assume they were a police officer,” Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said Saturday at a press conference. Burley said Boelter used “the trust of this badge and this uniform to manipulate their way into the home.”
Boelter had a list of multiple Minnesota lawmakers in his vehicle, many of whom were outspoken supporters of abortion rights, according to authorities.
The attack in Minnesota was the latest in a series of violent attacks on political figures, including the shooting of President Trump in July 2024 to the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband in October 2022.
With News Wire Services