The FBI released this image taken from home security video showing Vance Luther Boelter, the suspect in the shooting of two Minnesota lawmakers. Photo / FBI
A man accused of fatally shooting a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband in what authorities have alleged was part of a larger plot to stalk and kill politicians, confessed to the shootings in a handwritten letter.
It was found in his purported getaway car and claimed he had been acting on secret orders from the governor.
“I am the shooter at large in Minnesota involved in the two shootings,” Vance Boelter allegedly wrote in the letter, which was addressed to FBI Director Kash Patel and recovered on June 15 inside a car found near his home and near where he was subsequently arrested.
The details were made public today by federal prosecutors as they announced that a grand jury had formally indicted Boelter, 57, on enhanced murder charges tied to the June 14 killing of state Representative Melissa Hortman (Democrat) and her husband, Mark.
Boelter, from Green Isle, Minnesota, also stands accused of shooting state Senator John Hoffman (Democrat) and his wife.
Both were seriously wounded when they opened their door in the middle of the night to a man disguised as a police officer who then opened fire.
The fresh indictment charges Boelter with the attempted murders of Hoffman, his wife, Yvette, and their daughter, Hope.
In the letter, Boelter allegedly wrote that he had been secretly trained by the United States military and had participated in secret overseas missions “all in the line of what I thought was doing right and was in the best interest of the US”.
The letter claimed he had been “approached” by Governor Tim Walz (Democrat) and ordered to kill the state’s two US senators, Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, because “Tim wants to be senator”.
Asked for comment on the letter, a spokesman for Walz said, “The tragedy continues to be deeply disturbing for all Minnesotans”.
The letter claims that Boelter didn’t want to participate but did so after someone threatened his family and that he later killed people who were part of the alleged plot.
Acting US Attorney Joseph Thompson, whose office is leading the federal case against Boelter, said it was unclear if the rambling note was the gunman’s attempt to implicate the Hortmans and Hoffmans. He 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.”
In announcing the new charges, Thompson said he had decided to make public a photo of the letter and other evidence to be as “transparent as possible in this case, in light of the legitimate public interest”.
The attack has already spurred conspiracy theories about the gunman’s motivations.
“It’s been a terrible personal tragedy for the Hoffman and Hortman families, and it’s something that has rocked the entire state of Minnesota and even the country,” Thompson said.
The indictment comes nearly two weeks after Boelter appeared in a federal courtroom in St Paul, where he waived his right to a bond and probable cause hearing on his initial charges and agreed to remain in jail until trial.
He was doing so to speed up the process and reveal “the truth” about what happened on June 14, he said.
Boelter’s alleged letter is likely to spur questions about his competency.
Manny Atwal, a public defender appointed last month to represent him in the federal case, declined to say whether she planned to seek a mental health evaluation for her client.
In an email, she said today’s developments would “allow me to evaluate the case”.
Boelter is expected back in court this week to be formally arraigned on the new charges. “Mr Boelter will be pleading not guilty,” Atwal said.
Prosecutors have alleged that Boelter shot the Hoffmans and then travelled in a vehicle disguised as a police SUV to the addresses of at least two other state lawmakers who weren’t home.
He then went to Hortman’s Brooklyn Park home, where local police conducting a welfare check on the former House speaker saw him fatally shoot her husband, according to prosecutors.
After officers opened fire, the gunman ran into the home, fatally shot Hortman and fled out a back door.
As the investigation continues, Thompson reaffirmed that authorities still do not have a clear motive but that they believe Boelter acted alone.
He said notebooks found inside Boelter’s fake police vehicle listed names of numerous elected officials from Minnesota and other states, primarily Democrats. They also listed lawyers from national legal firms, he added.
In today’s indictment, federal prosecutors included a notice of “special findings”, suggesting Boelter should qualify for the death penalty if convicted in the Hortmans’ killings.
Thompson said that decision, which ultimately will be made by Attorney-General Pam Bondi, was “many months” off.