The wife of the man accused in the attacks on Minnesota legislators said Thursday that she and their children “are absolutely shocked, heartbroken and completely blindsided.”
Vance L. Boelter, 57, is charged in the June 14 shootings that killed Rep. Melissa Hortman and husband, Mark, at their Brooklyn Park home, and that wounded Sen. John Hoffman and wife, Yvette, at their Champlin home.
Boelter’s wife, in her first public statement, expressed her family’s sympathies to the Hortman and Hoffman families.
Vance Luther Boelter (Courtesy of the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office)
“This violence does not at all align with our beliefs as a family,” Jenny Boelter said in the statement. “It is a betrayal of everything we hold true as tenets of our Christian faith. We are appalled and horrified by what occurred and our hearts are incredibly heavy for the victims of this unfathomable tragedy.”
Jenny Boelter also said, in the statement issued on her behalf by the Halberg Criminal Defense firm, that she hadn’t been pulled over by law enforcement after the shootings. She said she received a call from law enforcement “and immediately drove to meet agents at a nearby gas station.”
She said they “voluntarily agreed to meet with them, answer their questions, provide all items they requested and cooperate with all searches.”
After a large-scale manhunt, Vance Boelter was arrested on June 15 near his and his wife’s home in rural Sibley County. Jenny Boelter’s statement concluded: “We thank law enforcement for apprehending Vance and protecting others from further harm.”
Boelter is charged with murder in both federal and state court.
The Hortmans will lie in state on Friday in the Minnesota Capitol rotunda in St. Paul, along with their golden retriever, Gilbert. The rotunda will be open from noon to 5 p.m. for the public to pay their respects to the Hortmans. Their dog also was gravely wounded in the shooting and had to be euthanized.
Officer who fired handgun identified
Also on Thursday, authorities identified a Brooklyn Park police officer who fired his handgun when shots were fired at the Hortman home. The charges again Boelter say he was posing as an officer when he went to the homes of Hoffman, Hortman and two other legislators who he did not encounter.
Officers arrived to check on the Hortman home after the shootings at the Hoffman home and encountered a man who officials later identified as Boelter.
“As officers arrived, they encountered a vehicle resembling a squad car with emergency lights flashing in the Hortmans’ driveway and a man, later identified as Vance Boelter, at the front of the home dressed as a police officer,” according to a Thursday statement from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. “Shots were fired and Officer (Zachary) Baumtrog discharged his firearm in response.”
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On the day of the shootings, officials said Boelter had shot at officers. Authorities said June 16 that is being further investigated.
“When Boelter saw the officers get out of the car, he drew his weapon and began firing,” Acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Joe Thompson said previously. “He rushed into the house through the front door, firing into it. He repeatedly fired into the house, and when he entered, he murdered Rep. Hortman and her husband Mark.” He fled out the back door.
Baumtrog was wearing a body camera during the incident, which BCA agents are reviewing during their investigation into his use of force.
The officer has nine years of law enforcement experience. Brooklyn Park Police Department placed him on critical incident leave, which is standard.
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