VANCE Boetler, the suspected of shooter of Minnesota Rep Melissa Hortman and her husband, has been arrested after the state’s largest-ever manhunt.
Following two days of intensive searching that gradually tightened around Boetler, he was ultimately discovered hiding in the woods and arrested on Sunday evening.
The public had been advised not to approach the 57-year-old, who was armed at the time of his arrest in a rural area of Sibley County, southwest of Minneapolis.
A large-scale manhunt was initiated on Saturday after Melissa Hortman and her husband were fatally shot at their residence in what officials described as a “politically-motivated assassination”.
Cops said the same gunman had shot and wounded Democrat senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their home nine miles away earlier on Saturday morning.
Officers responded to reports of gunfire at the Hoffmans’ home shortly after 2am and found them both with multiple gunshot wounds.
They then checked in on the Hortmans’ home and saw what looked like a police car and a man dressed as an officer leaving the front door.
Brooklyn Police Chief Mark Bruley said: “The individual immediately fired upon the officers, who exchanged gunfire, and the suspect retreated back into the home,” after which he ran off.
Until his arrest, Boetler was last seen on Saturday morning in the Twin Cities area wearing a light colored cowboy hat, light pants and a dark long sleeve shirt.
Police quickly located a vehicle of interest and the cowboy hat they believe Boelter was wearing when he was last seen.
Several AK-style guns and a list of about 70 names, which included politicians and abortion rights activists, were allegedly found inside the vehicle.
Fliers for No Kings – a group against President Trump’s perceived overreach of power – were also found in the car.
The pieces of evidence were found on Highway 25 in Sibley County roughly halfway between Green Isle, where Boelter has a property, and Belle Plaine.
Boetler faces two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder.
Hoffman and his wife Yvette were severely after being shot nine and eight times respectively and had to undergo emergency surgery.
After they got out of the operation room, governor Tim Walz said he was “cautiously optimistic they will survive this assassination attempt”.
Yvette said on Sunday that he husband was “closer every hour to being out of the woods”.
Boetler was previously an appointee of Walz, who publicly confirmed the “unspeakable tragedy” of the deaths his “good friend and colleague” Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark – who both died at the scene.
He said on Saturday: “Our state lost a great leader and I lost the dearest of friends.”
Boetler worked on the same state workforce development board as Hoffman, according to records, though it’s unclear whether they knew each other or not.
The Hoffman family revealed how his wife Yvette used her body as a shield when a gunman opened fire in their home.
