Devin Bruce of Minneapolis places flowers at a memorial for Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, who were fatally shot in their Brooklyn Park home on June 14. The suspect, 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter, was indicted on six federal charges today. EPA-EFE/CRAIG LASSIG
New details about the motive of the fatal shooting of two Minnesota lawmakers were revealed when federal prosecutors released a letter allegedly written by accused shooter Vance Boelter.
The announcement Tuesday accompanied a statement that Boelter, 57, was indicted by a grand jury on enhanced murder charges tied to the killing of state Rep. Melissa Hortman, a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farm-Labor party, her husband, Mark, and their dog, Gilbert. The announcement came from Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Joseph Thompson.
Boelter, who is from Green Isle, Minn., is also accused of shooting state Sen. John Hoffman, DFL member, and his wife, Yvette. Both were seriously wounded. The letter said that Boelter had also planned to kill the Hoffmans’ daughter, Hope, but she was not injured.
Investigators found the letter addressed to FBI director Kash Patel in a car found near Boelter’s home on June 15.
“I am the shooter at large in Minnesota involved in the two shootings,” Boelter allegedly wrote in the letter.
The letter detailed his plan to kill the two state lawmakers, and said that he was ordered to do so by Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat. He said he had been trained by the U.S. military and had taken part in secret missions “all in the line of what I thought was doing right and was in the best interest of the United States.”
He claimed in the letter that Walz also ordered him to kill Minnesota’s two U.S. senators, Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, because “Tim wants to be a senator.”
“The tragedy continues to be deeply disturbing for all Minnesotans,” Walz said in response to the revelation.
The letter claimed that Boelter didn’t want to shoot them, but he did so after someone threatened his family. Thompson described it as fantasy.
“Was it a delusion that he believes, or was it a delusion that is designed as an effort to misdirect our investigation or to, frankly, excuse his crimes? Well, that’s a good question,” Thompson said at a news conference. “It certainly seems designed to excuse his crimes.”
A grand jury indicted Boelter on six counts, Thompson said, including two murder counts, stalking with the intent to murder and firearm charges. Each count carries a penalty of up to life in prison. The two capital murder charges mean he faces the death penalty. Minnesota abolished the death penalty in 1911, but the federal government has had capital punnishment since 1988.
