By Olivier Acuña Barba •
Published: 14 Jun 2025 • 21:07
• 2 minutes read
Vast manhunt is underway in search of man who assassinated a US lawmaker and her husband | Credits: Reddit
A top Democrat in the Minnesota House and her husband were murdered, and a state senator and his wife were wounded by a man posing as a police officer and driving a fake police car. The governor of the US state and many other officials nationwide have condemned the shootings as a politically motivated attack.
The Washington Post reported that a vast police manhunt for the shooting suspect is underway in Minnesota’s capital.
Congressional leaders from both parties condemned the shootings of two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses on Saturday. They insisted that politically motivated violence should have no place in America, the influential news outlet added. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz described the act as “targeted political violence” and assured all victims of the attacker were deliberately targeted.
“We must all, in Minnesota and across the country, stand against all forms of political violence,” Walz said at a press conference Saturday. “Those responsible for this will be held accountable.”
100s of police are hunting down the gunman
Melissa Hortman, a former Minnesota House Speaker, and her spouse were shot and killed early Saturday in their Brooklyn Park home, AP said. A second state lawmaker, Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were shot multiple times.
Hundreds of police officers from several corporations were searching for the gunman responsible for the attacks on the Democratic legislators, AP added. Police found writings inside a fake police car recovered at one of the shooting scenes. The writings mentioned the names of multiple lawmakers and other officials, Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said.
“When we searched the vehicle, there was a manifesto that identified many lawmakers and other officials. We immediately notified the state. We took action on alerting them and providing security where necessary,” said Bruley.
The shooter has been identified
The police chief also said the suspect, identified as Vance Luther Boelter, 57, was dressed like a uniformed officer and operating a vehicle that “looked exactly like an SUV squad car. It was equipped with lights, emergency lights and looked exactly like a police vehicle,” Bruley said. Reports have revealed that Walz appointed Boelter in 2019 to serve on the Governor’s Workforce Development Board.
State Patrol Col. Christina Bogojevic asked people “out of an abundance of caution” not to attend any of the “No Kings” protests, thousands of which are scheduled today across the country. She said there is no direct evidence that Boelter would target the demonstrations, but she said he had “No Kings” flyers in his car.
Boelter’s actions occur at a time when political leaders nationwide have been attacked, harassed and intimidated during a time of deep political divisions, the AP said.
Heinous attack motivated by politics
“This heinous attack motivated by politics should never happen in America,” former US President Joe Biden said, according to the BBC “We must give hate and extremism no safe harbour and we must all unite against political violence as a nation.”
Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that the shooting appears to be a targeted attack against state lawmakers and added that this horrific violence will not be tolerated. “I have been briefed on the terrible shooting that took place in Minnesota, which appears to be a targeted attack against state lawmakers,” Trump said.
