The man accused of killing a politician and wounding another went to the homes of two other lawmakers to carry out more carnage on the night of the shootings, a federal prosecutor said.
But one of the other politicians was not home and the suspect left the other house after police arrived, acting US Attorney Joseph Thompson said at a press conference on Monday.
The suspect, Vance Boelter, surrendered to police on Sunday after they found him in the woods near his home following a massive manhunt that began early on Saturday near Minneapolis.
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 senator John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette. They were injured at their residence about nine miles away.
The 57-year-old Boelter was charged with federal murder and stalking offenses. He already faces state charges, including murder and attempted murder.
“Boelter planned his attack carefully” by researching his intended victims and their families and conducting surveillance of their homes and taking notes, Mr Thompson said.
Though the targets were Democrats and elected officials, Mr Thompson said it was too soon to speculate on any sort of political ideology that could explain his motives.
Mr Thompson said it was too early to say if the Justice Department would seek the death penalty but noted that that was among the options available to the government based on the charges.
The counts charged in the criminal complaint could be amended by prosecutors as they pursue a grand jury indictment as a prerequisite for bringing the case to trial.
Authorities declined to name the two other elected officials whom Boelter allegedly stalked but who escaped harm. But it was clear the shootings were politically motivated, they said.
“This was a targeted attack against individuals who answered the call to public service,” said Alvin Winston, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Minneapolis field office.
The resulting search, he said, was the largest manhunt in the history of Minnesota.
Boelter’s wife consented to a search of her phone by law enforcement, according to an FBI affidavit that cites from a text from Boelter to a family group chat: “Dad went to war last night … I don’t wanna say more because I don’t wanna implicate anybody.”
Earlier, the search for Boelter was the “largest manhunt in the state’s history,” Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said.
