Man suspected of shooting 2 Minnesota lawmakers is in custody after surrendering to police

BELLE PLAINE, Minn. (AP) — The man suspected of killing a Minnesota lawmaker and wounding another crawled to officers in surrender Sunday after they located him in the woods near his home, bringing an end to a massive, nearly two-day search that put the entire state on edge.

Vance Boelter was arrested and charged with two counts of murder and two of attempted murder. He is accused of posing as a police officer and fatally shooting former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home early Saturday in the northern Minneapolis suburbs.

Authorities say he also shot Sen. John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette. They were injured at their residence about 9 miles (about 15 kilometers) away.

“One man’s unthinkable actions have altered the state of Minnesota,” Democratic Gov. Tim Walz said at a news conference after Boelter's arrest.

The search for Boelter was the “largest manhunt in the state's history,” Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said. It began when Brooklyn Park officers went to check on Hortman's home and saw her husband gunned down before the shooter fled.

Authorities on Sunday located a vehicle Boelter was using abandoned in rural Sibley County, where he lived, and a police officer reported that he believed he saw Boelter running into the woods, Bruley said. Police set up a large perimeter and called in 20 different tactical teams, divvying up the area and searching for him.

During the search, police said they received information confirming someone was in the woods and searched for hours, using a helicopter and officers on foot, until they found Boelter. He surrendered to police, crawling out to officers in the woods before he was handcuffed and taken into custody in a field, authorities said.

Jail records show Boelter was booked into the Hennepin County Jail at 1:02 a.m. Central Time Monday and include two mug shots, one from the front and one from the side, of Boelter wearing an orange prison shirt.

Drew Evans, superintendent of the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said the violence likely would've continued had Brooklyn Park offices not checked on Hortman's home, causing Boelter to flee.

The Hoffmans were attacked first at their home in Champin early Saturday. A criminal complaint unsealed after Boelter's arrest indicated their adult daughter called 911 just after 2 a.m. to say a masked person had come to the door and shot her parents.

After police in nearby Brooklyn Park learned that a lawmaker had been shot, they sent patrol officers to check on the Hortmans’ home.

Brooklyn Park police officers arrived just in time to see Boelter shoot Mark Hortman through the open door of the home, the complaint says. It says they exchanged gunfire with Boelter, who fled inside the home before escaping the scene. Melissa Hortman was found dead inside, the complaint said.

Authorities said Boelter posed as a police officer, even allegedly altering a vehicle to make it look like a police car.

Authorities did not give a motive as they announced Boelter's arrest.

A list of about 70 names was found in writings recovered from the fake police vehicle that was left at the crime scene, said two law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the ongoing investigation. The writings and list of names included prominent state and federal lawmakers and community leaders, along with abortion rights advocates and information about health care facilities, according to the officials.

A Minnesota official told AP lawmakers who had been outspoken in favor of abortion rights were on the list. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

Boelter is a former political appointee who served on the same state workforce development board as Hoffman, records show, though it was not clear if or how well they knew each other.

Around 6 a.m. Saturday, Boelter texted friends to apologize for his actions, though he didn't say what he had done.

“I’m going to be gone for a while. May be dead shortly, so I just want to let you know I love you guys both and I wish it hadn’t gone this way," he wrote in messages viewed by AP.

The shootings come as political leaders nationwide have been attacked, harassed and intimidated amid deep political divisions. Lawmakers said they were disturbed by the attacks as Twin Cities residents mourned.

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

On Sunday evening, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar shared a statement from Yvette Hoffman expressing appreciation for the outpouring of public support.

“John is enduring many surgeries right now and is closer every hour to being out of the woods,” Yvette Hoffman said in a text that Klobuchar posted on social media. “He took 9 bullet hits. I took 8 and we are both incredibly lucky to be alive. We are gutted and devastated by the loss of Melissa and Mark.”

Brightly colored flowers and small American flags were placed Sunday on the gray marbled stone of the Minnesota State Capitol along with a photo of the Hortmans. People scrawled messages on small notes including, “You were our leader through the hardest of times. Rest in Power.”

Pam Stein came with flowers and knelt by the memorial. An emotional Stein called Hortman an “absolute powerhouse” and “the real unsung hero of Minnesota government.”

Karnowski reported from Minneapolis, and Balsamo and Durkin Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Michael Biesecker in Washington; Jim Mustian in New York; Sophia Tareen in Chicago and Makiya Seminera in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report.

This booking photo provided by the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office shows Vance Boelter in Green Isle, Minn., on June 16, 2025. (Hennepin County Sheriff's Office via AP)

This photo made available by the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office shows Vance Luther Boelter, the man accused of assassinating the top Democrat in the Minnesota House, as he was arrested late Sunday, June 15, 2025. (Ramsey County Sheriff's Office via AP)

Claire Stein places flowers at a makeshift memorial for Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark at the state Capitol, Sunday, June 15, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Members of law enforcement agencies investigate near a vehicle suspected to belong to shooting suspect, Vance Boelter, Sunday, June 15, 2025, in Belle Plaine, Minn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Leah Palmer visits a makeshift memorial for Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark at the state Capitol, Sunday, June 15, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

A Sibley County Sheriff's Deputy blocks the road where the suspect involved in the shooting of two state lawmakers vehicle was found Sunday, June 15, 2025, in Faxon Township, Minn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

An amed FBI agent in an armored vehicle takes part in the search for an active shooter, sweeping a neighborhood adjacent to the home of Minnesota DFL State Representative Melissa Hortman, in Brooklyn Park, Minn., Saturday, June 14, 2025. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)

Armed FBI agents search for an active shooter, sweeping a neighborhood adjacent to the home of Minnesota DFL State Representative Melissa Hortman, in Brooklyn Park, Minn., Saturday, June 14, 2025. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)

This image provided by the FBI on Saturday, June 14, 2025, shows part of a poster with photos of Vance L. Boelter. (FBI via AP)

Tire marks from police vehicles mark the lawn of suspect Vance Luther Boelter's home in Minneapolis on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)

Bullet holes mark the front door of the house of Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife who were shot earlier in the day, Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Champlin, Minn. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)

The title match in soccer’s biggest club competition is here: Paris Saint-Germain vs. Arsenal in the Champions League final in Budapest, Hungary.

PSG is looking to win Europe’s elite competition for a second straight year, while Arsenal is bidding to become European champion for the first time on its return to the final after a 20-year wait.

Both teams are coming off winning their own domestic leagues, in France and England, respectively.

Here's the Latest ahead of the 1600 GMT kickoff:

PSG and Arsenal have reached the title match adopting vastly different playing approaches.

PSG is the top-scoring team in the competition with 44 goals -- that’s an average of more than three per game.

Arsenal has the Champions League’s best defense, letting in just six goals in 14 games and keeping nine clean sheets, three more than any other team has registered.

▶ Read more

The man entrusted with being the referee for the biggest match in club soccer won’t even be going to next month's World Cup.

German ref Daniel Siebert was left off FIFA’s list of match officials for the World Cup – after going to the 2022 edition in Qatar – so handling the Champions League final is a consolation prize in a sense.

This will be the third straight round Siebert will have worked an Arsenal match.

Video review – or VAR, as it’s known in soccer circles — will be in operation for the final.

PSG: Matvey Safonov; Achraf Hakimi, Marquinhos, Willian Pacho, Nuno Mendes; Vitinha, João Neves, Fabian Ruiz; Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué.

Arsenal: David Raya; Cristhian Mosquera, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Piero Hincapié; Declan Rice, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Martin Odegaard; Leandro Trossard, Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka.

Zohran Mamdani is a big Arsenal fan and the New York Mayor was seen wearing club-branded clothing when he joined residents across the city for Eid al-Adha prayers this week.

In an article he has written for The Athletic ahead of the final, Mamdani said he started supporting Arsenal from the age of 9 after his uncle “introduced me to a team with a cannon on its shirt.”

He says supporting the team “increasingly became an exercise in nostalgia” until the recent uplift under Mikel Arteta.

“Over these past two years, no matter how chaotic life became, Arsenal remained the constant,” he writes.

Mamdani acknowledges PSG is “brilliant” and “frustratingly well-managed” by Luis Enrique, but has a message for Arsenal and its fans: “Enjoy this moment, because they don’t come around often.”

Fans are making their way to the stadium under a cloudy, threatening sky in Budapest, and they’ll have a role to play in the final.

Not least with the rival chants that you might get to hear in your TV broadcast.

PSG’s most notable song will see their passionate Ultras bellow “Tous ensemble on chantera” (All together we will sing).

Arsenal fans have their own chant that has grown in popularity over the last few seasons in manager Arteta’s 6 ½-year reign, with a chorus taken from “The Angel (North London Forever)” -- written by singer and Arsenal fan Louis Dunford in 2022.

▶ Read more

This is the first European Cup final to be staged in Hungary and it comes at an interesting time for the Central European country, a few weeks after right-wing populist leader Viktor Orbán‘s heavy defeat in the elections.

Péter Magyar is the prime minister and is set to attend the match at the 67,000-seat Puskas Arena, a stadium that opened in 2019 and was built on the same site as the previous Ferenc Puskas Stadion — named after the Hungarian and Real Madrid great who won three European Cups as a player.

Orbán is a massive soccer fan and attempted to bring back the glory days of the 1950s, when Hungary had one of the world’s top teams.

To that end, the arena, located a few kilometers east of central Budapest, has become a well-known host for European games. The stadium staged the UEFA Super Cup in 2020, as well as a slew of Champions League group games and four European Championship matches in 2021. In 2023, it hosted the Europa League final won by Sevilla.

Pre-match entertainment is being provided by American rock band The Killers, who are best known for songs like “Mr. Brightside,” “Smile Like You Mean It” and “Somebody Told Me.”

It differs from the Super Bowl, where artists perform in a halftime show.

The Killers, who hail from Las Vegas, predicted an “epic match” when they were announced to be performing – though at the time, they didn’t know who the finalists would be.

In previous years, Linkin Park, Lenny Kravitz and Dua Lipa have been headliners in Champions League finals.

Some 48,000 fans are expected to fill PSG’s stadium in Paris, the Parc des Princes, to watch the match on giant screens.

PSG said Paris mayor Emmanuel Gregoire is among the officials expected to attend.

Former players, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Claude Makélélé and Ronaldinho, have been invited to Budapest for the final.

It’s the first time in 55 years that clubs from two different capital cities are competing in the final of Europe’s biggest club competition.

The last was Ajax (of Amsterdam) vs. Panathinaikos (of Athens) in 1971.

There were only two before that: Benfica (Lisbon) vs. Real Madrid in 1962 and Real Madrid vs. Partizan Belgrade in 1966.

This is also the first major European final featuring teams from France and England.

It’s the last match of the European club season – and World Cup coaches will be watching on with a mixture of intrigue and nervousness.

The World Cup begins in 12 days, and the squads of both PSG and Arsenal are bulging with players heading to the tournament being held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Any injuries sustained in the final could be devastating so close to the big kickoff.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says winning the Premier League has whetted the players’ appetite for more trophies.

Nothing comes bigger than the Champions League.

“The ambition is bigger,” Arteta said in his pre-match news conference. “We have one, and we want the second one ... there has to be a platform to reach bigger destinations.”

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard was the first player in the squad to get his hands on the Premier League trophy, and he liked it.

“When you get the taste of winning and lifting a trophy,” Odegaard says, “you know how nice it feels. And we want to do it again.”

Many of soccer’s superstar players will be taking the field at Puskas Arena – not least PSG forward Ousmane Dembélé, the most recent world player of the year.

Désiré Doué, the 20-year-old forward who lit up last year’s final with two goals in the record 5-0 win over Inter Milan, is still a shining light for PSG along with Georgia winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and three of Cristiano Ronaldo’s top teammates with Portugal – Vitinha, Nuno Mendes and Joao Neves.

Arsenal has England stars Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice in midfield and the striker who has just sent Sweden to the World Cup – Viktor Gyökeres.

Groups of fans got physical late Friday in Budapest’s frequented party area, leading police to launch an investigation over disorderly conduct.

Videos on social media showed several dozen people throwing punches and kicks, driving another group down Király street in the capital’s District 7.

One fan held a burning red flare before throwing it toward the other group, which was retreating down the street. Budapest police said in a statement that the violence erupted shortly after midnight, and that it was using surveillance footage to try to identify participants.

__ AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

PSG fans hold up their scarves before the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

The trophy is displayed on the pitch before the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal in Budapest, Hungary, Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr Josek)

Generel view of the Puskas Arena a day ahead of the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, May 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

PSG supporters react as they make their way to the stadium ahead of the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Rudolf Karancsi-Albert)

PSG supporters are accompanied by security ahead of the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, May 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Rudolf Karancsi-Albert)