Just hours after apprehending suspect Vance Boelter for the shootings of two Minnesota Democrats and their spouses, law enforcement officials say the death toll could have been much higher.
In a press conference on Monday, acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Joseph H. Thompson said Boelter visited the homes of two additional state lawmakers in between carrying out the shootings that left two people dead and two more gravely injured on Saturday.
Boelter also allegedly had the names of more than 45 state and federal officials written down in a notebook that contained “voluminous” writings on the planned attacks.
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Boelter, 57, is accused of shooting Democratic State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their home in Champlin, Minnesota, the morning of June 14, then shooting Democratic State House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, at their home in Brooklyn Park.
The Hortmans both died from their injuries, while the Hoffmans survived and are now receiving care at a Minnesota hospital.
Before killing the Hortmans, Thompson says Boelter attempted similar attacks on two more Michigan legislators and their families.
Though Thompson did not reveal the names of the two additional targets, he said Monday that one is a state representative in Maple Grove, while the other is a state senator in New Hope. Thompson also said that while Boelter’s motives are unclear, the elected officials on his list “are all Democrats.”
“I have not seen anything involving some sort of screed or political manifesto that would clearly identify what motivated him,” Thompson told reporters. “Obviously, his primary motive was to go out and murder people.”
The state senator for New Hope is Ann H. Rest, a Democrat. Maple Grove is split into three districts in the State House, represented by Kristin Robbins, a Republican, and Democrats Kristin Bahner and Ned Carroll. That means the most likely targets were Senator Rest and Representative Bahner (as Thompson repeatedly referred to the representative as “she”). However, none of the four officials has confirmed whether they were a target.
According to Thompson, after leaving the Hoffmans’ home, Boelter visited the state representative around 2:24 am. However, she was vacationing with her family at the time. Boelter rang the doorbell, then left after realizing the house was empty.
The state senator in New Hope faced a much closer call. According to Thompson, Boelter had parked in front of the state senator’s home and was preparing to enter at 2:36 am when local police, having just learned of the earlier shooting, arrived to conduct a wellness check.
An officer arriving at the senator’s home spotted Boelter’s SUV. However, she mistakenly believed him to be a fellow officer because Boelter had outfitted his vehicle with police lights and a license plate reading “POLICE.”
The officer later told investigators she attempted to speak to Boelter, but he stared straight ahead and did not respond. She eventually entered the home to wait for other officers to arrive, and Boelter left the scene without incident.
According to Thompson, Boelter spent days ahead of the shootings gathering supplies to impersonate a police officer, and convinced both the Hoffmans and the Hortmans to open their doors under this pretense. Boelter also allegedly donned a “hyperrealistic silicon mask” to conceal his identity during the attacks.
Shortly after escaping the encounter with police in New Hope, Boelter allegedly traveled to the Hortmans’ Brooklyn Park home, arriving around 3:30 am.
According to Thompson, officers conducting a wellness check arrived at the same time and saw Boelter’s SUV parked in the driveway, with Boelter standing just outside the front door. When Boelter saw the police, he rushed into the home, repeatedly shooting the Hortmans.
Police told investigators they fired at Boelter as he entered the Hortmans’ home, but did not strike him. Boelter then fled on foot, abandoning his SUV and most of his supplies, while police were providing medical aid to the Hortmans.
While Thompson didn’t share Boelter’s full list of 45 targets, several lawmakers have since come forward after being informed they were on the list.
Among those named were Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin and Michigan House Representative Hillary Scholten, spokespeople for the two Democrats confirmed to the Daily Beast.
Scholten later canceled an in-person town hall that had been scheduled for Monday. She told the Daily Beast she did so “out of an abundance of caution and to not divert additional law enforcement resources away from protecting the broader public.”
Ohio Rep. Greg Landsman, also a Democrat, tweeted this afternoon that Capitol Police had informed him his name was also on Boelter’s list.
Debbie Dingell and Kelly Morrison, both House representatives from Minnesota, confirmed to Axios that they were named, as did Mark Pocan, a House representative from Wisconsin. All three are Democrats.
Law enforcement sources previously told The New York Times that Governor Tim Walz, House Representatives Ilhan Omar and Angie Craig, Senator Tina Smith, and State Attorney General Keith Ellison, all Minnesota Democrats, were also on the list.
In his press conference, Thompson said that Boelter had “planned this attack carefully,” researching each of his victims online to find information about their homes and families.
Investigators have said they believe Boelter worked alone, but are investigating whether he may have been part of a “larger network” to assassinate politicians.
After a two-day statewide manhunt, Boelter was captured Sunday night by local law enforcement, who found the gunman hiding in a field in Green Isle, Minnesota, near his family home.
Boelter now faces six federal and four state charges, including stalking, murder, and attempted murder. At least three of his federal charges carry a maximum punishment of life in prison, while two more carry the death penalty. Thompson said in his press conference that he expects the federal charges will be pursued first.
