MINNEAPOLIS — A trove of records released Monday shows law enforcement dispatching drones, helicopters and personnel throughout the Twin Cities suburbs in an attempt to find the suspect involved in a series of politically motivated shootings last summer.

Despite those efforts, the alleged shooter, Vance Boelter, evaded capture for 43 hours. The documents show law enforcement recognized almost instantly there was a grave threat to state lawmakers. The attacks killed former House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman, her husband, Mark, and their dog, Gilbert. They severely wounded state Sen. John Hoffman, his wife, Yvette, and their daughter, Hope.

The documents detail the intensity of the search and the damage inflicted on the Hortman and Hoffman homes. They show how police knew a woman was lying motionless on the top of the stairs inside the Hortman home but waited 30 minutes to physically check on her.

The documents were provided to the Star Tribune by the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office via public records request and include detailed incident logs of police calls fielded by emergency dispatchers following the shootings

Boelter is charged in federal court on six counts and prosecutors are considering whether to seek the death penalty against him. He is charged with eight counts in Hennepin County District Court, including two counts of first-degree murder and four counts of attempted first-degree murder.

The Minnesota Star Tribune is analyzing the documents and will continue to update this story.

Brooklyn Park police were performing a wellness check on Melissa Hortman when they arrived at her home at 3:35 a.m. to see Mark Hortman get shot by a man who was “dressed as a cop.” They tell dispatch Mark Hortman is “down at door” and a shooter is in the house. Police pulled Mark Hortman from the entryway and requested backup. They continually called for more officers to check on the rear of the home and within three minutes say they did not see the shooter after he entered the house.

Another officer secured the backyard by 3:39 a.m. Officers noted that there are no footprints in the grass. By 3:41 a.m. a drone is en route to the house.

“Melissa Hortman is DFL house rep” dispatch notes at 3:43 a.m. Police tried to call her cellphone and home phone but there was no answer.

At 4:09 a.m., dispatch notes that the drone is checking the second floor and observed one person down and “unknown if breathing on stairwell inside house.” One minute later, dispatch notes that there is a “deceased dog and female is on the stair landing — not moving.”

At 4:21 a.m., police report no one else has been found inside the house and one door remains locked.

At 4:34 a.m., police fly the drone out of the home, so the battery can be changed. It then re-enters.

At 4:37 a.m., police say no suspect has been located and it is unclear if the suspect is in the house. An emergency team is sent in to extract Melissa Hortman. She is removed from the house at 4:40 a.m., 31 minutes after her body is first seen on drone footage.

Last summer, the Star Tribune reported that Brooklyn Park officers waited an hour to physically enter the home to check on Melissa Hortman after seeing Mark Hortman get shot in the doorway. A senior law enforcement official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity and had been in several active shooter situations, said the situation fit the description of an active shooter. That meant officers should have gone into the house to confront Boelter and not waited to deploy drones.

The Brooklyn Park Police Department criticized the Star Tribune’s reporting, saying its officers had no idea if Melissa Hortman was in the home and that officers “acted swiftly, with courage and bravery in the face of grave danger, based on the information they had at the time.”

Hope Hoffman called 911 at 2:05 a.m. to report the shooting of her parents. By 2:10 a.m., dispatch relayed that the shooter was masked and that one of the victims was Sen. Hoffman.

By 2:21, they launched a drone and dispatch suggested that “given this guy is a state senator, you might want to notify State Patrol so they can work on other senator notifications as they cover dignitary protection.”

Police checked security camera footage at the Hoffmans’ home and shared an early suspect description: “susp white male ... dark blue navy uniform blk exterior carrier ... blk SUV red blu flash lights,” the dispatch log reads.

By 2:27 a.m., the State Patrol was notified about the incident and suspect information, including that he was dressed as a police officer. Police said they were working to share a photo of the suspect’s vehicle and issued an advisory to look for a vehicle with an Iowa license plate.

Police used Flock cameras, license plate readers operated by the Hennepin County sheriff and other agencies, to search for the SUV’s whereabouts before and after the shooting at the Hoffman home but noted “nothing useful” was found. Brooklyn Park officers pursued and stopped a vehicle with Iowa plates and deemed it unrelated to the investigation.

The Hoffmans were taken to Mercy Hospital. Around 2:50 a.m., dispatch called for more officers to be deployed to the hospital, saying the Hoffmans were being split up and hospital staff had been advised to not allow anyone in uniform to approach them without approval.

After police arrived at the Hortmans, the shooter’s SUV appeared to be left in the driveway. Identifying features of the shooter – including race, clothes and gender – were shared through dispatch by 3:50 a.m.

Shortly after Melissa Hortman was removed from the house, law enforcement began detailing what was found inside the SUV, including “rifles and magazines and military gear and notebooks with addresses,” according to a 4:47 a.m. dispatch.

Two minutes later, officers share the VIN number of the SUV and the names of the owners: Vance Luther Boelter and his wife, Jenny.

At 4:53 a.m., the Boelter’s home address in Green Isle, Minn. is shared and a BOLO – be on the look out – for Vance Boelter is issued. By 5 a.m., a request is made to set up a perimeter because a “male is on foot in area” and a message is sent out for more squad cars.

A comprehensive message of what police knew about the suspect’s location is sent at 5:04 a.m. and says, “let’s not assume he is inside because there was a back door open – suspect may be bunkered down or out.” By 5:20 a.m., Brooklyn Park Police issued a shelter in place order for a 3-mile radius of Edinburgh Golf Course.

The next several hours are filled with squad cars searching streets in the vicinity of the Hortman home and officers continuing to search inside the house.

At 5:44 a.m., the State Patrol begins looking back through footage from highway cameras “to see if they come across anything” and by 6:43 a.m., officers were “stopping and checking every car that leaves Edinbrook Crossing and 85th Ave.”

At 6:44 a.m., a previously unreported detail shows that a person was placed in custody who was “not the shooter” but claimed to have been there to pick up the shooter. This person was detained less than a mile from the Hortman home and the dispatch log notes that an FBI investigator is “going to meet this guy — going to get a ping on his phone ASAP.”

At 8:09 a.m., police still searching inside the Hortman’s home note that the “crawl space has been cleared.”

Other unsubstantiated reports spill in, including a man fitting Boelter’s description being seen in a blue sedan and a prank call carried out by a young woman.

The most concrete tip comes from the Minneapolis Police Department at 8:34 a.m. when they speak with David Carlson, who was Boelter’s roommate and tells officers that “Vance was last seen in the area” of their apartment on the 4800 block of Fremont Ave. around 6:30 in the morning. Police update their information on what Boelter is wearing off a doorbell camera on Fremont.

“Suspect desc update as of 630,” it reads, “blue tactical pants ... blue long sleeve tactical shirt ... no vest ... tan colored cowboy hat.”

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