Federal prosecutors have shared the disturbing notes Vance Boelter carried with him as he allegedly shot dead a state lawmaker and her husband and tried to murder another legislator and his wife on Saturday morning.
Vance Boelter, 57, has been charged at both the state and federal level for the fatal shooting of Melissa Hortman, the top Democrat in the Minnesota House, along with her husband, Mark. He is also accused of wounding state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, during a separate attack at their nearby home on that night. Boelter, who was arrested on Saturday night after a two-day-long manhunt, made his first court appearance on Monday.
Chilling Notes Revealed
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During the court hearing, Boelter said that he couldn’t afford a private lawyer—even though records show he owns seven vehicles and a house. Prosecutors allege that Boelter— whose friends describe him as a devout Catholic—had plans to target more liberal lawmakers and abortion providers.
Notepads recovered at the crime scene reportedly contained a list of 45 Democrats and abortion rights advocates.
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According to court filings, Hortman, one of the victims, was named on the list along with unsettling notes identifying her husband as Mark and mentioning that the couple has two children.
Boelter, who was once appointed to a state committee by Governor Tim Walz, also allegedly wrote another comment next to Hortman’s name: “Big house off golf course, 2 ways to watch from one spot.”
While Hoffman, the other alleged victim, was not named in the suspect’s list, the district he represents was.
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Another notebook reportedly included URLs for three companies that sell silicone facemasks, similar to the one Boelter allegedly wore while posing as a police officer to gain entry into the homes of both Hortman and Hoffman early Saturday morning.
One of the websites Boelter had bookmarked describes itself as ‘your premier destination for high-end hyper realistic silicone masks,” while another claims that it ‘set[s] a new standard in hyper realistic silicone masks.”
The recovered notebooks also contained a list of websites used to obtain personal details about U.S. residents, including PeopleFinders.com and Spokeo.
Fight Against the System
Several prominent Democrats were among those named, such as U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar and Representative Ilhan Omar, a member of the progressive “Squad.” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan were also mentioned in a section labeled “added protections for abortions in MN.”
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The notes further identified Planned Parenthood doctors and medical professionals working at abortion clinics across the Midwest, according to Fox 9.
MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos and a major donor to Planned Parenthood, was also reportedly listed.
Federal prosecutors said that Boelter had conducted surveillance on at least some people from his list. He now faces six federal charges, including murder, stalking, and attempted murder.
“Boelter planned his attack carefully,” Acting US Attorney for Minnesota Joseph Thompson in a news conference on Monday.
“He researched his victims and their families. He used the internet and other tools to find their addresses and names, the names of their family members. He conducted surveillance of their homes and took nots of the location of the homes.”
Thompson noted that Boelter seemed to have been preparing for the attacks “for quite some time.”
