The gunman who killed a Democratic state lawmaker while posing as a police officer was still at large on Sunday (local time) as police conducted a massive manhunt following a crime that Governor Tim Walz characterised as a "politically motivated assassination."
Authorities said they had found a car, hat and other items belonging to the suspect, Vance Luther Boelter, 57, in a rural area southwest of Minneapolis, but had not found him yet.
"We're certainly operating as though he's still alive, and believe he is at this time," Drew Evans, head of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, told a news briefing.
Boelter fled on foot early on Saturday when officers confronted him at the Brooklyn Park home of state Representative Melissa Hortman, the top Democrat in the Minnesota House, and her husband, Mark, who were both killed.
The gunman earlier had shot and wounded another Democratic lawmaker, state Senator John Hoffman, and his wife Yvette at their home a few miles away, authorities said.
Hoffman was undergoing surgery after being hit with nine bullets and "is closer every hour to being out of the woods," Yvette said in a text message posted to social media by US Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat.
"We are both incredibly lucky to be alive," Yvette said in the message.
Authorities in Sibley County, about an hour by car from the scene of the crime, instructed residents to keep their doors locked after finding the suspect's car.
The location of the car in Faxon Township is about 6.4km east of Boelter's listed home address in Green Isle, which was searched by law enforcement officers on Saturday.
The gunman had left behind a different vehicle outside Hortman's house in suburban Minneapolis that resembled a police SUV, including flashing lights, and contained a target list of other politicians and institutions, officials said.
Boelter has links to evangelical ministries and claimed to be a security expert with experience in the Gaza Strip and Africa, according to online postings and public records reviewed by Reuters.
The Minnesota Star Tribune, citing law enforcement officials, reported the target list included abortion providers and several dozen Minnesota Democrats, including Walz, who was also the Democratic vice presidential candidate last year, and Klobuchar, a 2020 presidential candidate.
"There clearly was some through line with abortion, because of the groups that were on the list. So that was one of his motivations," Klobuchar said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
The killing was the latest in a series of high-profile episodes of US political violence, including the attack on former Democratic US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband at their home in 2022, the attempted assassination of Donald Trump during last year's presidential campaign, and an arson attack at Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's house in April.
GUNMAN POSED AS OFFICER
Damon Voight, who lives down the road from Boelter's house in a rural area of Green Isle, said his wife was afraid with the suspect on the loose.
"My wife is freaked out," Voight said. "She's like, 'We've got guns in the house, right?'"
The city of Champlin, home to the Hoffmans, said it shut down its annual Father Hennepin festival for the weekend, which included live music and a carnival.
Outside the state capitol in St. Paul, a small memorial had taken shape, with flowers, American flags and handwritten messages on yellow post-it notes.
"Justice for Melissa," read one note, with a drawing of a heart on it.
Klobuchar said she had seen both Hortman and Hoffman at a political dinner on Friday, just hours before they were shot.
"We started out together in politics, moms with young kids, and somehow she was able to balance getting to know every door, knock on every house in her district, while raising two children - Girl Scout leader, she taught Sunday school," the US senator said of Hortman, 55.
The attacks started around 2am on Saturday (local time), when authorities said the gunman shot the Hoffmans in their home before driving several miles to Hortman's home in neighbouring Brooklyn Park.
The FBI released photos of the suspect wearing a rubber mask and a police-like uniform.
