Suspect in shooting of two Minnesota lawmakers captured

The suspect in the assassination of one lawmaker and the attempted assassination of another in Minnesota, the United States, has been captured.

Vance Boelter, 57, was arrested on Sunday following a two-day manhunt in the Midwestern state, law enforcement officials said.

“The face of evil. After relentless and determined police work, the killer is now in custody,” the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post accompanied by a photo of Boelter being taken into custody.

“Thanks to the dedication of multiple agencies working together along with support from the community, justice is one step closer.”

Boelter is alleged to have shot two Democratic lawmakers and their spouses early on Saturday morning in what officials believe was a politically motivated attack.

Melissa Hortman, a state representative, and her husband, Mark, were killed in the attack, while state Senator John A Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were injured.

Boelter, a self-described security professional who served on the same workforce development board as Hoffman, faces two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Sunday night.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz hailed law enforcement officers for bringing Boelter into custody.

“You ran towards the danger and you served the state of Minnesota,” Walz told a news conference.

Walz paid tribute to Hortman, describing her as “the core of who our values were”.

“She had a hand in so many things that happened – the building that we stand in, she helped usher through,” Walz said.

Walz said Hoffman and his wife were recovering after the attack. He credited the family for taking “heroic actions” during the attack that he said had saved “countless lives”.

Walz also issued a call for a stop to political violence in the US.

“This cannot be the norm. It cannot be the way we deal with our political differences,” he said.

“Now is the time for us to recommit to the core values of this country.”

US politics has been shaken by several violent incidents in recent times.

In April, the residence of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, was targeted in an arson attack that coincided with the Jewish holiday of Passover.

Last July, President Donald Trump narrowly escaped death when he was grazed in the ear by a would-be assassin’s bullet during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.