The nationwide manhunt continued Sunday for 57-year-old Vance Boelter, the man whom law enforcement officials have identified as the primary suspect in the killing of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband.
Authorities on Sunday said they located a vehicle belonging to Mr. Boelter roughly 60 miles from the deadly shooting in the Minneapolis suburbs. They warned the public that Mr. Boelter should be considered “armed and dangerous” and requested residents in the area where the vehicle was discovered to lock their doors and shelter in place.
Mr. Boelter is also the lead suspect in the shooting of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife. They survived and on Sunday were awake and recovering, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Both targeted lawmakers are Democrats.
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said Mr. Hoffman’s wife, Yvette, was “out of surgery first” and had “actually texted some of our mutual friends.” Ms. Klobuchar said Mr. Hoffman “may face some additional surgeries, but he is also in stable condition right now from what I know.”
Ms. Klobuchar also said that she had received added security without having to request it herself.
The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to Mr. Boelter’s arrest.
Gov. Tim Walz and fellow Democrats in the state have said the shooting was politically motivated. Investigators say the shooter wore a “manifesto” that contained the names of elected officials, including prominent pro-choice leaders and many Democratic lawmakers.
Complicating matters though, Mr. Boelter had been appointed to state boards by Democratic governors and there is evidence of Democratic leanings also.
“There clearly was some throughline with abortion because of the groups that were on the list,” Ms. Klobuchar said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “So that was one of his motivations. But again, they’re also checking out, did he have interaction somehow with these without legislators? Is there more to this?”
According to law enforcement officials, Mr. Boelter posed as a police officer. He wore a ballistic vest and mask to hide his identity when he killed Ms. Hortman, who previously served six years as speaker of the Minnesota House, and her husband, Mark, at their home.
Mr. Boelter exchanged gunfire with police in a brief firefight before escaping on foot.
The shooting occurred hours after the Hortmans joined fellow Democrats, including Ms. Klobuchar, at the state party’s annual Humphrey-Mondale dinner.
There were still more questions than answers around the shooter’s motivation, opening the door for finger-pointing between partisans on social media over Mr. Boelter’s political leanings.
David Carlson, who stated that he was Mr. Boelter’s roommate and considered him his best friend, having known him since childhood, said that Mr. Boelter was struggling mentally and financially after leaving his job to pursue business ventures in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“He kept things inside,” Mr. Carlson told the Star Tribune. “He’s been kind of down. He was not as upbeat as he usually is.”
He also said he received a text from Boelter around 6 a.m. Saturday saying that he would be dead shortly, and he loves them. Carlson said it’s unbelievable Boelter could have done this.
Mr. Carlson told reporters over the weekend that Mr. Boelter opposed abortion and supported President Trump.
The Star Tribune reported that Rev. Mcnay Nkashama, who put together the missionary trips to Africa that Mr. Boelter joined, said he was “trying to make sense of what might have triggered all of this.”
“I am extremely confused,” he told the newspaper. “I’ve known him long enough to be highly shocked.”
Minnesota police said that the fake police car the suspect reportedly drove has a stack of “No Kings” flyers, the names of the left-leaning anti-Trump protests that happened across the nation Saturday.
Law enforcement officials also said Mr. Boelter had written a manifesto, though they said it would be “premature” to say what the motivation was from the writings.
State Attorney General Keith Ellison said Sunday that Mr. Boelter had a hit list and that his name was on “the one with the political folks on it.”
Mr. Boelter had served on the governor’s bipartisan Workforce Development Council. Former Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, appointed him to the panel in 2016 and Mr. Walz reappointed him in 2019.
Videos have also circulated online that appear to show Mr. Boelter delivering sermons at a Christian church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They included him railing against transgenderism and gay marriage in the United States.
Ms. Klobuchar said Sunday that the deadly shooting demands that elected leaders tone down the political rhetoric.
“People need to call out people,” she said on CNN’s “State of the Union. “Some people need to look in the mirror and say, ‘Hey, I have to stop this, or stop my colleagues from doing this because it makes it much worse.’”
The Democrat signaled an interest in creating new rules that seek to crack down on online activity that stokes political violence and incentivizes copycat crimes.
Ms. Klobuchar said threats against elected officials have spiked, jumping from 1,700 in 2016 to 9,000 last year.
“So, more has to be done on that front and, of course, more has to be done to protect elected officials, regardless of party,” she said.
Asked during a separate appearance on CNN whether members of Congress should receive security details, Democratic Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota said, “I can’t bear to think that it has come to that.”
“But I think we are at a tipping point right now,” Ms. Smith said.
