Ahead of a key court hearing Friday, June 27, authorities have publicly revealed new details in the case against Vance Boelter, the suspect in the June 14 shootings of two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses.
Multiple affidavits — one of which was unsealed on June 20 — outline how Boelter allegedly planned and carried out the attack, as well as what followed in its aftermath.
Inside Boelter’s SUV, disguised as a cop car
After Boelter fled on foot from officers in Brooklyn Park on Saturday, June 14, law enforcement searched the SUV that Boelter left behind and found five firearms, including semi-automatic assault style rifles, and “a large quantity of ammunition,” according to the post-arrest affidavit.
Law enforcement officers also reportedly found several notebooks in the SUV, among which was a list of more than 45 public officials in Minnesota, including Rep. Melissa Hortman, who was fatally shot alongside her husband, Mark, on June 14. Next to Rep. Hortman’s name was her home address, according to affidavits.
Another notebook contained lists of search engines for researching people’s personal information. Within the notes, titled “finding people,” were side notes under individual websites, including “not free,” “three days free,” “need name, phone number or address,” and “just enter a name and state.”
The SUV also contained a GPS navigation system, with a trip history that included the addresses of five public officials’ homes, according to the post-arrest affidavit.
Boelter’s family, text messages
The post-arrest affidavit said that law enforcement obtained the information to track the cell phones of Boelter and his wife, Jenny, on Saturday. After Jenny Boelter consented to a search of her phone, law enforcement saw a text sent from Vance Boelter at 6:18 a.m. on Saturday in a group text message.
“Dad went to war last night … I don’t want to say any more because I don’t want to implicate anybody,” The text message read, according to a post-arrest affidavit.
According to the affidavit, Boelter sent another text around the same time that said, “Words are not gonna explain how sorry I am for this situation … There’s gonna be some people coming to the house armed and trigger-happy and I don’t want you guys around.”
Jenny Boelter also consented to a search of her car, in which officers recovered two handguns, approximately $10,000 in cash, and passports for Jenny Boelter and her children, according to the post-arrest affidavit.
“Boelter and his wife had been ‘preppers,’ or people who prepare for major or catastrophic incidents. At some point, Boelter had given his wife a ‘bailout plan’ — i.e., a plan of where to go in case of exigent circumstances — to go [to] her mother’s residence in Spring Brook, Wisconsin,” FBI Special Agent Terry Getsch wrote in the pre-arrest affidavit.
Searches in North Minneapolis
During the search of Boelter’s North Minneapolis residence on Saturday, officers found a separate list of officials ’ names, “many of those same public officials named in the notebooks found in Boelter’s SUV,” the post-arrest affidavit said.
In another notebook recovered at the North Minneapolis residence, Rep. Hortman’s name was listed with notes saying “married Mark two children eleventh term,” and “big house off golf course two ways in to watch from one spot.”
Officers also found a receipt of a June 9 purchase from Fleet Farm, which, among other things, included a flashlight, a tactical rifle case, two types of firearm ammunition and the materials “believed to have been used to create the fake ‘POLICE’ license plate attached to Boelter’s SUV,” the post-arrest affidavit wrote.
Officers also found notebooks that contained research on websites for purchasing silicone masks, similar to the one Boelter can reportedly be seen wearing on camera footage recorded at Sen. John Hoffman’s residence in Champlin on June 14.
On the morning of June 14, Boelter reportedly met with “Witness 1,” as described in the affidavit, in North Minneapolis to purchase both an e-bike and a Buick. Witness 1 told law enforcement that Boelter carried two duffel bags with him when they met and that Boelter and Witness 1 drove together to a U.S. Bank in Robbinsdale.
Boelter withdrew $2,200, thereby emptying an account in his name, and reportedly paid Witness 1 $900 for the purchase of the e-bike and the Buick, according to the post-arrest affidavit.
Search in Green Isle
Around 2:30 a.m. on June 15, law enforcement was notified of an individual on an e-bike, approximately two miles Northeast of Boelter’s family home in Green Isle, according to the post-arrest affidavit.
After further investigation, officers discovered an abandoned Buick on Highway 25 close to the sighting of the individuals on an e-bike in Green Isle, the post-arrest affidavit said.
In the Buick, law enforcement recovered a handwritten letter to the FBI. The writer of that letter, who claimed his name was “Dr. Vance Luther Boelter,” admitted to being “the shooter at large in Minnesota involved in the two shootings the morning of Saturday.”
Boelter faces state and federal charges in the murders of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, and the shooting of Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. His next court appearance is scheduled for Friday, June 27, at the U.S. courthouse in St. Paul.
If convicted, the federal charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison or the death penalty. Boelter remains in custody ahead of the hearing.
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