Manhunt is on for suspected killer of Democrats in Minnesota

Miranda Davis, Myles Miller, Bloomberg News on Jun 14, 2025

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A manhunt was under way Saturday for a suspect who shot two Democratic Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses and carried a manifesto listing other politicians and abortion providers in the state.

Minnesota’s Democratic House leader Melissa Hortman, 55, and her husband, Mark, were both shot and killed at their home by a man impersonating a law-enforcement officer, down to a vehicle that looked like a cruiser with lights and sirens, state authorities said. The suspect fled the Hortmans’ house on foot.

State Sen. John Hoffman, 60, and his wife, Yvette, were wounded in an earlier shooting, also at their home, authorities said.

Police said they were searching for Vance Luther Boelter, 57. The suspect left a purported hit list in his car that included several Minnesota politicians and abortion providers in the state, according to a government background document obtained by Bloomberg News. The politicians on the target list now have extra security, Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley told reporters.

Boelter texted his roommates that he was “going to be gone for a while” and “may be dead shortly,” according to the Minnesota Star Tribune, which interviewed one of the housemates.

“No Kings” protests against the Trump administration, which occurred across the U.S., were canceled in Minnesota after police discovered the suspect had a flier about the protests in his car.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle condemned the eruption of political violence.

President Donald Trump said he had been briefed on the Minnesota shootings. “Such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America,” he said in a social post.

“An unspeakable tragedy has unfolded in Minnesota,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told a news conference.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and the FBI were investigating and will be prosecuting anyone involved to the fullest extent of the law, Trump said.

Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2024, called on Americans to settle their differences peacefully.

“We must all, in Minnesota and across the country, stand against all forms of political violence,” he said.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer condemned political extremism.

The shootings, Schumer said, were “acts of political extremism and an assault on our democracy itself.”

Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota also expressed horror at the attack.

“No public official — or any American — should fear for their safety in their own home, and we condemn this despicable act of political violence.”

Political tensions across the U.S. have increased as Trump held the large military parade in Washington on Saturday evening to mark the Army’s 250th anniversary.

While thousands of protests took place peacefully across the country as part of the “No Kings”protest, in Texas, authorities temporarily evacuated the state capitol complex in Austin after receiving threats against state lawmakers who planned to attend a protest. A suspect was arrested later Saturday at a traffic stop in the town of La Grange, the Texas Department of Public Safety said on social media.

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(With assistance from Billy House.)