Crime & Safety
Officer Let Boelter Go Before He Went On To Kill Hortmans, Federal Complaint Says
The accused assassin was sitting in a fake squad car outside a lawmaker's home when a real officer briefly confronted him, authorities said.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Vance Luther Boelter was questioned by a police officer and let go, just hours before he fatally shot Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband inside their Brooklyn Park home, according to a newly unsealed federal complaint.
Court documents allege that in the early morning of June 14, Boelter equipped himself with firearms, body armor, and a law enforcement disguise before driving to the Champlin home of Minnesota State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.
Boelter knocked on the door, claiming to be a police officer. When the Hoffmans opened the door and saw he was wearing a facemask, they attempted to shut him out, but Boelter opened fire, shooting both John and Yvette Hoffman multiple times, investigators said. They were hospitalized and are expected to survive.
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Still dressed as an officer, Boelter then traveled to the homes of two more Minnesota elected officials, according to authorities. He did not make contact with either, but was stopped by police near one of the residences.
At about 2:36 a.m., after the Hoffman shooting, law enforcement in New Hope dispatched an officer to the home of that lawmaker, "Public Official 2," to conduct a welfare check.
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The officer spotted a black SUV parked down the street with a man sitting in the driver’s seat. The vehicle had a police-style light bar and resembled a squad car.
"The officer reported that the individual sitting in the black SUV was a bald, white male, staring straight ahead," the complaint states. "The officer tried to speak with that man, but he continued staring straight ahead and did not respond. The officer drove the rest of the distance to Public Official 2’s residence, saw no signs of distress, and waited there until additional law enforcement officers joined her. By the time they did, the dark SUV had left the area."
Boelter then drove to the Hortmans' home in Brooklyn Park, where he fatally shot the couple, authorities said.
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