Suspect in murder of Minnesota Democratic Congresswoman Melissa Hortman arrested

The suspect in the murder of a Democratic state representative and her husband in Minnesota on Saturday, June 14, was arrested on Sunday evening, June 15. According to ABC News, the man was arrested near his farm in Green Isle, in the northern US state, but the Department of Public Safety did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The FBI had offered a reward of up to $50,000 (around €43,000) for information leading to authorities' arrest of Vance Boelter, 57, who is accused of killing Melissa Hortman and her husband early Saturday morning and seriously wounding another Minneapolis suburban lawmaker, John Hoffman, and his wife, in what Governor Tim Walz called a "deliberate act of political violence."

A car linked to the man was found Sunday afternoon in a rural area an hour and a half to the west. "Over 100 law enforcement officers and multiple SWAT teams are searching for him in that area," Drew Evans, head of the Minnesota Bureau of Investigation, said at a news conference Sunday evening.

This double attack on two Democratic officials shocked the political class of this rather peaceful state and caused astonishment among elected officials across the country, mired in a tense political atmosphere.

The suspect, in a photo shared by authorities, appears wearing a police uniform and what appears to be a latex mask covering his entire head, ringing a doorbell in the dark. He is suspected of having visited the homes of John Hoffman and then Melissa Hortman in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis on Friday night.

Yvette Hoffman said Sunday that her husband was "undergoing multiple surgeries," but "he's getting closer to being out of the woods by the hour," according to a text message shared on X by Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. The congressman was shot nine times, while Hoffman was shot eight times, she said in the message.

Vance Boelter fled on foot after exchanging gunfire with police officers who arrived at the Hortman home, where he had left a car. A notebook containing a list of elected officials, including the two targeted officials and other state political figures, was found inside the vehicle. Drew Evans said Sunday that it was not a "traditional manifesto."