Minnesota Officials Give Details On The Suspect In Attacks On Democratic Lawmakers

Forbes Breaking News

Minnesota officials hold a press briefing to give details on Vance Luther Boelter, the suspect in the shooting attacks on Democratic lawmakers, one of whom, Melissa Hortman, was killed as was her husband, Mark.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Bob Jacobson.

00:13I am the Commissioner of Public Safety, and it's my honor to serve in that position.

00:17We're here today to give some updates on the current investigation.

00:22First off, I would like to thank the law enforcement agencies and the public out there who are being vigilant.

00:28Our law enforcement partners who are watching out for others in our community.

00:35The understanding and patience of the public as we work to find this individual and bring that person to justice.

00:43We know that it's been a difficult day for not only those who have worked with those legislators,

00:49but it's also a difficult day for those in the state of Minnesota who are working through this terrible tragedy.

00:55Today, we have a few speakers who are going to, again, give some updates,

01:01and we will be available to answer some questions once all the speakers have had that opportunity to say a few words.

01:08So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Superintendent Drew Evans of the BCA.

01:11Thanks, Commissioner, and today we are asking for the public's help at this point in time

01:20in locating Vance Luther Bolter, who is a 57-year-old white male who is 6 feet 1 inches tall,

01:28220 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.

01:32I know this name has been reported in the media so far,

01:35and we are confirming he's a person of interest that we are looking to locate in relation to this.

01:41At this time, we would ask the public, if you do locate him, to see him, to call 911.

01:46Do not approach him.

01:48You should consider him armed and dangerous,

01:50and you should call 911 immediately with the information.

01:55He was seen last this morning wearing light-colored cowboy hat

01:59that you can see up here in the clothing there

02:02with dark-colored long-sleeved collared shirt or a coat, light pants, and carrying a dark bag.

02:08If you have any tips about the whereabouts or any information that would be helpful,

02:13you can call local police department,

02:15or you can call our BCA tip line at 877-996-6222

02:23or email us at bca.tipsatstate.mn.us.

02:30We still don't know if additional people are involved,

02:34but this individual is the one that we're looking as a person of interest right now,

02:38but there may be other people with him,

02:40and we would like to speak to anybody that may have had contact with him at any point in time,

02:46so please connect with us, even if this has been some time ago today,

02:50so that we can follow up and continue to work together to keep our communities safe.

02:55And as the commissioner noted, we'll take some questions at the end,

02:59but again, we are seeking the assistance of the public in locating him.

03:03I want to continue to say, as you see,

03:05there's hundreds of law enforcement officers working on this right now.

03:08For the partners that you see up here today,

03:11as well from Champlin, Brooklyn Park, the State Patrol,

03:15Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, FBI, ATF,

03:17just a myriad of partners working to try to locate this individual.

03:21And with that, I will turn it over to the mayor,

03:23and we'll answer questions at the end.

03:31So hi, my name is Hollis Winston, mayor of the city of Brooklyn Park.

03:35First, I want to extend my prayers to the Hortman family,

03:40but also to the Hortman family as well.

03:43You know, there will come a time down the road for healing within us as a community,

03:47but right now I think what's required is the calming words and rhetoric.

03:51I want folks to make sure they listen to the facts from credible sources like law enforcement,

03:57but also to resist spreading misinformation.

04:00And then, again, asking folks to listen to law enforcement in general

04:04when law enforcement has those specific asks.

04:08In Brooklyn Park and Champlin and our surrounding communities,

04:11in fact, the state, we're very much family.

04:14The Hortman and Hortman families are very much our family,

04:17and so our prayers continuously go out to them.

04:20And it's very much a time for us to come together as a community and as a family,

04:25and I think people need to see it that way.

04:27I want to thank law enforcement, Governor Walts, Commissioner Jacobson, Sheriff Witt,

04:32FBI, various counties, local law enforcement.

04:35Even with our city of Brooklyn Park, we're seeing a ton of local law enforcement

04:39and county law enforcement just supporting our city overall,

04:42and we want to thank them for doing that.

04:45They're dedicated to keeping us safe and to securing justice.

04:49I would say to support them.

04:50Again, if you have information, there'll be information behind me.

04:53Please share that information.

04:55And, again, please look and listen for valid information and share that.

05:01There will be a time to come together, and I think specifically for the city of Brooklyn Park

05:05and within our area, there'll be a time where we come together

05:08when we work through what we're going through now as a community.

05:12But I want to say this.

05:14You know, this individual did this to instill fear into our community,

05:18but they also wanted to create a distinct and singular point of view.

05:23When I listed all of that law enforcement coming together,

05:26that was really us as a state, as a community,

05:29from all different walks of life coming together to work on what's happening.

05:35And I received calls from folks across the state,

05:37from all different ethnicities and communities as well,

05:40with an outpouring of support.

05:41So I want people to understand that as a city, but as a state, as a community,

05:48we're very much going to come together.

05:50We're going to see this through.

05:53And we're all going to work together to figure this out.

05:57So, again, I want to thank our law enforcement,

05:59and I want to turn it over to the mayor of Champlin Park.

06:07Good afternoon.

06:08My name is Ryan Sabus, mayor of Champlin.

06:11And on behalf of the city of Champlin, our police department, and our city council,

06:15I want to extend a heartfelt thoughts and prayers to Senator John Hoffman

06:20and Representative Melissa Hortman and their families.

06:26We are deeply saddened by the senseless act of violence,

06:30and our hearts are with all those that have been affected.

06:33Our police department is working close in partnership with state, local, and federal agencies

06:38to pursue this active investigation.

06:41We are incredibly grateful for their swift and responsible professional response

06:45and for the collaboration of commitment of every officer involved.

06:50We ask everyone to stay attentive, report anything that feels concerning,

06:54and most of all, continue to show kindness, respect, and care for one another.

06:59This is how we move forward together.

07:01And, again, thank you all for being here.

07:03And, again, I think Mayor Winston said it well that Hoffman family and Hortman family

07:11are very much part of our communities, part of our fabric of our communities.

07:14And we really wish the families all the best.

07:20As folks have said, we'll take a few questions.

07:22Please don't forget to, in the first question, introduce yourself,

07:27your immediate organization, with whom you're with,

07:29and if you have a question for a specific individual, call that up.

07:34Mayor, for Fox and I, do you have an update on Senator Hoffman's condition?

07:38All right.

07:39The question was, do we have an update on Senator Hoffman's condition?

07:41We don't at this time.

07:43The last information we had is that he was out of surgery

07:46and was in stable condition at that time,

07:49but that certainly experienced significant injuries,

07:52so we'll have to continue to monitor that.

07:54General, you said person of interest, so not a suspect?

07:59He's a suspect.

08:00One and the same for this particular case at this point in time.

08:03Okay, so we can say suspect.

08:04You can say suspect.

08:05You know this guy is affiliated with some sort of security company

08:11according to its own website that has highly transparent individuals.

08:16Can you speak to the level of knowledge this person might have

08:20about using a gun or different security tactics

08:24that might separate him from a typical person walking down the street?

08:28Yes, so the question was regarding the sophistication of the individual

08:33based on reports that he owned a security company.

08:36I certainly can't get into the details of the investigation.

08:38That will all be part of that, and we'll explore all of that.

08:40We're aware of the connections that you reference,

08:43and the team will be dissecting that between the investigators,

08:45Brooklyn Park Police Department,

08:47and all of the state and local and federal partners that are working on that.

08:51Certainly an individual will have some familiarity,

08:53if that's the line of work that they're in,

08:55with some of the tactics that you noted,

08:56but we'll be exploring that more fully.

08:59One question about the photo that we're seeing

09:00and the cowboy hat in the jacket.

09:02Is that photo taken today?

09:03That photo is today.

09:05And is it from a ring camera

09:06for residents of either of our monitors?

09:08The question is, is it from a ring camera?

09:11It's not.

09:11This is from a business, so this is at a business location.

09:15We believe, as noted, that we believe he was still in at this time.

09:20He was in the Twin Cities area,

09:22and that we are continuing to work and follow up on that.

09:25We believe he's working to potentially flee the area,

09:28and so that's why we're sharing that with that information now

09:31so that we can safely apprehend him.

09:33Is there a way that you're in touch with the TSA?

09:35I know Governor Walz is being in contact with the federal agency,

09:38as you have mentioned, with the FBI.

09:39Yeah.

09:40Are airlines, you know, seeing his picture so he doesn't work on him?

09:44So the question is, are we in contact with TSA?

09:47We've been in contact with all of the federal authorities

09:49that are relevant to this investigation.

09:51We will continue to be.

09:51Are you able to share the time or location that that program is taking today?

09:56The question is, can I share the time and location?

09:59This was this morning when this was taken.

10:01It was in the city of Minneapolis.

10:03That's at this point, I think, all that we can share

10:04as we work to follow up on that.

10:06Are there any surveillance or ring camera or video

10:08from either of the residents from the city of the state?

10:11The question is, there's surveillance or ring camera.

10:13We do have various video from different locations.

10:18I don't want to get into specifics as part of the active investigation,

10:21but there is video that has been obtained by the investigators.

10:23Can you talk about some of the other locations

10:25that you guys are working on in Green Isle,

10:27maybe at 29 to 30 months in?

10:30So, yeah, we can, the question is,

10:32can we talk about some of the other locations?

10:34You know, because our teams are very active

10:36as part of an active investigation,

10:37I can't talk about the specifics.

10:39What I will tell you is the two locations you noted,

10:42in Minneapolis and in Green Isle,

10:44they are related to this investigation

10:45and the follow-up that the teams are doing.

10:47Can you talk a little bit more about the manifesto

10:54and what kind of motivation it might be doing?

10:57We're told that the latest approaches

10:59long-term on this manifesto,

11:01if that has any reason for the motivation here.

11:03At this point in time, it would be premature.

11:05The question was, is the manifesto

11:07and the information that we have received

11:09as their motivations?

11:11We are working diligently on that.

11:14There's certainly some indications within that,

11:17but there's not specifics enough.

11:19We have been, this is a very active

11:21and fluid investigation.

11:22Throughout the day, as you've been waiting,

11:24and these teams have been out working

11:26out in the field,

11:27and they have been gathering more documents

11:29and information,

11:30so it would be premature for me at this point

11:33to really say exactly what the motivation might be

11:35from these writings,

11:36but we will be continuing to work on that

11:38and provide that information when we're able.

11:40The question is,

11:52do they know each other in any capacity?

11:54We are still exploring that.

11:57There's certainly some overlap

12:02with some public meetings, I will say,

12:05with Senator Hoffman and the individual,

12:07but we don't know the nature of the relationship

12:09or if they actually knew each other.

12:11All right, thank you.

12:12Thanks, everybody.

12:12Thanks.

12:12Thanks, everybody.

Category

Transcript

Recommended