He confirmed no law enforcement officers were injured during the arrest and praised the collaboration between local, state, and federal agencies.
Boelter, 57, allegedly posed as a police officer on Saturday before fatally shooting Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark at their Brooklyn Park residence.The same morning, he also shot State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette at their home in Champlin. Both survived despite serious injuries.
Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley described the operation to track down Boelter as “the largest manhunt in the state’s history.” He said the search lasted about 43 hours and involved hundreds of detectives along with 20 different SWAT teams.
In a statement on Sunday, Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth said she was “grateful that this nightmare has come to an end with the suspected murderer captured alive so he can be charged, prosecuted, and punished for the horror he has wrought on our state.”
According to Drew Evans, the superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Boelter is being charged under a state criminal warrant, and state officials are discussing whether to seek charges at the federal level.
According to a report in The New York Times, investigators are looking into whether anyone helped him, Evans said.
Following the two attacks on Saturday in Champlin and Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, an alleged target list of dozens of Minnesota Democrats, including Gov. Tim Walz, US Rep. Ilhan Omar, US Senator Tina Smith, and state Attorney General Keith Ellison, was discovered in the suspect’s vehicle, according to ABC News.
State Senator John A Hoffman, who was shot but survived, has undergone final surgery and is on his way to recovery, reports said.
