US Politics
Accused Minnesota assassin Vance Boelter breaks silence after political shootings: ‘It didn’t involve… Trump stuff’
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The man accused of fatally shooting a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband and attempting to kill two others has broken his silence from inside jail, insisting his actions were not motivated by “Trump stuff” or abortion.
Vance Boelter, 57, said that while he was “pro-life,” that was also not the motive for the alleged murder of Democratic State House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, and her husband, Mark, on June 14.
He’s also been charged over the shootings that same morning of Democratic State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, who both survived a separate attack at their home.
Authorities called the shootings “politically motivated.”
Boelter spoke out in an exclusive interview with The New York Post from a cell inside Sherburne County Jail in Elk River, Minnesota.
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“You are fishing and I can’t talk about my case…I’ll say it didn’t involve either the Trump stuff or pro-life,” Boelter told the outlet via the prison messaging system.
“I am pro-life personally but it wasn’t those… I will just say there is a lot of information that will come out in future that people will look at and judge for themselves that goes back 24 months before the 14th. If the gov ever lets it get out.”
His remarks echo comments made previously when, during a federal court hearing, he said told the judge he was “looking forward to court,” where the truth would come out, The New York Times reported.
During the hearing, the judge ordered Boelter to remain in jail while awaiting trial.
Prosecutors allege that on the day of the alleged shootings, Boelter disguised himself as a police officer. The incident occurred at the lawmakers’ Minneapolis-area homes in the early morning hours.
Boelter was arrested near his rural Minnesota home after a two-day manhunt.
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Prosecutors say handwritten notes were found in Boelter’s car with the names of dozens of Minnesota state and federal elected officials which included some of their home addresses. Boelter asked The Post about the notes.
“Can I ask what you heard as an outside person about the note that the alleged person — I’ll say alleged person — left in that car, did you hear anything about that?” he said.
Following the attacks, Boelter’s wife said in a statement through her lawyer that she and her family are “appalled and horrified” by the shootings.
“We are absolutely shocked, heartbroken and completely blindsided,” she said. “This violence does not at all align with our beliefs as a family. It is a betrayal of everything we hold true as tenets of our Christian faith.”
