Suspect in Minnesota Politician's Death Arrested: Melissa Hortman Involved, Say Reports

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Key Points

US authorities have reportedly detained Vance Luther Boelter.
He is accused of shooting and killing an MP and her husband.
He was allegedly dressed as a police officer.

US authorities have arrested a man who allegedly shot dead a Democratic state politician and her husband while posing as a police officer, according to US broadcaster ABC News, citing several sources.

ABC News said the man was arrested near his farm near Green Isle, Minnesota, on Monday AEST but the Minnesota Department of Public Safety did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the arrest.

A massive manhunt has been underway following the shooting deaths of Minnesota Democrat politician Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark on the weekend. Minnesota governor Tim Walz said the shooting was a “politically motivated assassination”.

Authorities had said earlier that they had found a car, hat and other items belonging to the suspected shooter, Vance Luther Boelter, 57, in a rural area southwest of the city of Minneapolis, but had not found him yet.

A split image of a man with short dark hair wearing a suit and tie and a woman with shoulder-length blonde hair

Melissa Hortman (right), a former assembly speaker, and her husband Mark were shot dead on the weekend in what has been described as a politically motivated assassination. Source: AP / AP

Boelter fled on foot early on Saturday when officers confronted him at Hortman’s home.

Police say the same gunman that killed Hortman had earlier shot and wounded another Democratic politician, state senator John Hoffman, and his wife Yvette at their home a few miles away, authorities said.

Hoffman was undergoing surgery after being hit with nine bullets and “is closer every hour to being out of the woods,” Yvette said in a text message posted to social media by US senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat.

“We are both incredibly lucky to be alive,” Yvette said in the message.

The gunman had left behind a different vehicle outside Hortman’s house in suburban Minneapolis that resembled a police SUV, including flashing lights, and contained a target list of other politicians and institutions, officials said.

The FBI released photos of the suspect wearing a rubber mask and a police-like uniform.

Boelter has links to evangelical ministries and claimed to be a security expert with experience in the Gaza Strip and Africa, according to online postings and public records reviewed by Reuters.

The Minnesota Star Tribune, citing law enforcement officials, reported the target list included abortion providers and several dozen Minnesota Democrats, including Walz, who was also the Democratic vice presidential candidate last year, and Klobuchar, a 2020 presidential candidate.

“There clearly was some through line with abortion, because of the groups that were on the list. So that was one of his motivations,” Klobuchar said on NBC’s Meet the Press.

The killing was the latest in a series of high-profile episodes of US political violence, including the attack on former Democratic US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband at their home in 2022, the attempted assassination of Donald Trump during last year’s presidential campaign, and an arson attack at Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s house in April.