How one police sergeant’s intuition set off 43-hour manhunt

Brooklyn Park police Sgt. Rielly Nordan had just wrapped up his shift early Saturday when he heard that Champlin police were responding to a shooting at a home — and that one of the victims was a state senator.

Nobody knew then if anyone other than Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, had been targeted. But Nordan knew that Rep. Melissa Hortman lived nearby, in Brooklyn Park, and would be worried.

“His shift is over, he’s taken off his gear,” said Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley. “And as he’s walking out, he looks at a couple officers, and says, ‘Hey, just to be safe, why don’t you go up and just check on Hortman’s house?’”

The proactive decision by an experienced officer allowed police to first confront suspected shooter Vance Boelter, the start of an exhaustive manhunt that would end 43 hours later in a farm field near Green Isle in Sibley County. He now faces state and federal charges in connection with the killings. Moments after law enforcement announced Boelter’s arrest, Bruley recounted the chaotic moments that preceded the largest manhunt in state history.

The two officers Nordan sent to check on Hortman arrived to find what looked like a squad car already parked in her driveway, its emergency lights on.

“The officers get out of their car and they see what appears to be a police officer coming out of the house,” Bruley said. There was a brief pause as the two real officers made eye contact with a man dressed like a police officer, later identified as the 57-year-old Boelter.

“The suspect turns around, turns his back to them, almost like he’s knocking on the door,” Bruley said. “Our officers don’t know what he’s doing exactly. Just about that time, I think the suspect realizes they’re not going away, right?”

“They had no idea Melissa was shot or inside and they couldn’t see her,” Bruley said. “They could see blood in the home, and they believed that they likely struck the suspect, who then went downstairs. They believed the suspect was downstairs, wounded.”

Backup arrived in force and law enforcement swarmed the house and got a more complete look at the scene. Officers came to believe that Boelter had fled through a back door after the gunfight with the two officers Nordan sent.

Officers, including SWAT team members, surrounded the home and flew a drone inside, where they found Melissa Hortman dead of gunshot wounds. Mark Hortman was pronounced dead at the hospital. When police searched Boelter’s vehicle, a dark SUV decked out to look like a police squad, they found three AK-47 assault rifles, a 9 mm handgun and a list of names and addresses of public officials, according to the charging documents.

He also had lists with the names of about 45 lawmakers and abortion providers.

Further searches of the area located a ballistic vest, a disassembled 9 mm firearm, a mask and gold police badge. Shortly after the confrontation, officers identified Boelter as their suspect. The next morning law enforcement found an abandoned Buick belonging to Boelter not far from his Green Isle home, along with a hat they believe he had been wearing.

Officers tightened their circle and Boelter was found crawling in a field, said Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Brooklyn Park police couldn’t save the Hortmans. But by confronting Boelter then and there, they forced the suspect to abandon his car and much of his weaponry and gear. If that hadn’t happened, Evans said, he had “every confidence this would have continued.”