Hennepin County grand jury indicts Vance Boelter for first-degree murder, adds animal cruelty charge

While announcing that a grand jury had indicted Vance Boelter for premeditated first-degree murder in state court, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty provided new details of the investigation and added two more victims from his alleged politically motivated rampage.

Boelter is now charged in District Court with two counts of first-degree murder, four counts of attempted-first degree murder, one count of felony animal cruelty and one count of impersonating a police officer.

The charges allege he killed Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and attempted to kill Rep. Kristin Bahner and Sen. John Hoffman, his wife, Yvette, and their daughter, Hope, at their respective homes on the morning of June 14.

“These are members of our community here in Hennepin County,” Moriarty said. “These were people who were public servants, who represented us.”

No jury trial has been scheduled in the federal case.

Moriarty said her office will continue to wait for the federal case to play out before pursuing its case against Boelter.

Bahner was out of town when Boelter allegedly rang her doorbell and knocked at her door for more than two minutes while disguised as a police officer, the same method he used at the Hortman and Hoffman homes.