(Washington) The man on the run accused of having murdered a local elected representative of Minnesota and tried to kill another was arrested on Sunday evening in a rural area of Minnesota, authorities of this state in the United States were announced late Sunday evening
“After two days of human hunting and two sleepless nights, the police arrested Vance Boelter,” said Minnesota Governor Tim Walz at a late press conference on Sunday evening.
Photo Kerem Yücel, Associated Press
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz
This double attack on two Democratic officials shocked the political class of this rather quiet state and provoked stupor among elected officials across the country, stuck in a tense political atmosphere.
Hundreds of police officers were since Saturday morning in search of Vance Boelter, accused of having disguised themselves as a police officer to kill, their respective homes on the suburbs of Minneapolis, Melissa Hortman and her husband, as well as having seriously injured another elected official, John Hoffman, as well as his wife.
Even if he was armed, he was arrested “without the use of the force,” said Jeremy Geiger, a Minnesota police colonel.
His run ended Sunday evening in the locality of Green Isle, more than an hour west of Minneapolis, the authorities said to the press, adding that he was in the course of interrogation.
A car linked to this man, considered to be “armed and dangerous”, had been found on Sunday noon in this area, and a hundred police officers, as well as air means, were under his kiss.
Photo George Walker IV, Associated Press
Representative Melissa Hortman was killed at her home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.
“Not the norm”
“There is no doubt that it was the greatest manhunt” in the history of Minnesota, told the press Mark Bruley, the police chief of Brooklyn Park, the city of the suburbs of Minneapolis where Melissa Hortman and her husband was killed.
Local senator John Hoffman, seriously injured by nine bullets and operated on multiple times during the weekend, “advance towards healing,” added Tim Walz on Sunday evening.
The Governor, a former teammate of Kamala Harris in the last presidential election, called for “this odious act” to “become the norm”.
“This cannot be the way to settle our political differences,” added the Democrat, who knew Melissa Hortman well.
FBI photos, provided by the Associated Press
The suspect Vance Boelter
A notebook containing a list of elected officials, including the two aims and other state political figures, was found inside the vehicle.
“Link with abortion”
Senator Amy Klobuchar said on Sunday “worried about all our political leaders” after this attack.
“There was a link with abortion, due to the groups” present on the list, including abortion clinics according to the media found in the suspect’s car, she added in an interview with the NBC channel.
Melissa Hortman, 55 and mother of two, was a former president of the Minnesota House of Representatives. She had made the protection of the right to abortion her high priority.
“We need to lower the tension” political, insisted Amy Klobuchar on CNN.
This attack intervened in an ever more fractured America, between deployment of soldiers in Los Angeles to repress the demonstrations, a military parade wanted by Donald Trump in Washington and gatherings against him across the country.
Photo Tim Evans, Reuters
An American flag floats at half mast at the Capitol of the State of Minnesota
The current president himself escaped two assassination attempts during his campaign, including one in the midst of a meeting last July in Pennsylvania.
Questioned Sunday morning by an ABC journalist on the situation in Minnesota and if he intended to call Tim Walz, a former political opponent, Donald Trump replied: “It’s terrible. I think he is a very bad governor, someone who is completely incompetent. But I could call it, as I could call other people. ”
