Minnesota shootings: Suspect who targeted lawmakers arrested and charged with murder

Here’s how the news from Minnesota swiftly inspired a slate of unhelpful conservative conspiracy theories speculating about the shooter’s motives.

Josh Marcus has the story.

As we reported earlier, the suspect will make his first court appearance at 1.30pm this afternoon to answer the state charges against him: two counts of second-degree murder and two of attempted murder.

However, CNN quotes a law enforcement official saying that federal charges could also be handed down to Boelter, given that several names of federal lawmakers were also included on the “manifesto” citing possible targets that was retrieved from his vehicle.

Here’s the latest from President Trump, who has said nothing further about the murder of Melissa Hortman beyond his initial social media post on Saturday afternoon.

Madeline Sherratt reports.

In remarks following the arrest, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz condemned political violence and urged Americans to “recommit to the core values of our country.”

“This cannot be the norm,” he said. “It cannot be the way that we deal with our political differences … It’s not about hatred. It’s not about mean tweets. It’s not about demeaning someone. It’s leading with grace and compassion and vision and compromise and decency. That was taken from us in Minnesota.”

Here’s a look at the life of the former state House speaker.

The man suspected of killing a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband and wounding another and his wife is in custody following a nearly two-day manhunt that followed a shocking streak of political violence.

The attacks in Minnesota are part of a wave of recent violence in the U.S. thought to be motivated by politics.

The same day as the shootings took place, a man was accidentally fatally shot during a “No Kings” protest in Utah, after security personnel tried to stop a different allegedly armed man from attacking demonstrators.

Here’s Josh Marcus on that incident.

Boelter, a born again Christian, can be seen speaking at a religious conference in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2023 and claiming that some people in the United States “don’t know what sex they are.”

Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, told reporters on Sunday that suspected gunman Vance Boelter didn’t leave behind “a traditional manifesto.”

He said the document was more like “a notebook, with a lot of lawmakers and others that are listed in there, and much more other thoughts that are throughout this, as opposed to a very succinct document.”

“I don’t want the public to have the impression that there’s this long manifesto,” he said.

The comments were made prior to the suspect’s arrest.

Boelter’s longtime friend and roommate David described him as “very conservative” and opposed to abortion and said the suspect had returned to their home and texted him on the morning after the attacks.

According to CBS’s Lilia Luciano, the text read:

“David and Ron, I love you guys. I’ve made some choices and you guys don’t know anything about this, but I’m going to be gone for a while. I may be dead shortly. So I just want to let you know that I love you guys both. And wish it hand’s gone this way. I don’t want to say anything more, and implicate you in any way because you guys don’t know anything about this, but I love you guys and I’m sorry for all the trouble this has caused.”

He also revealed that Boelter had been unhappy and struggling for work since returning from a recent trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Here’s more from Ariana Baio.