Evidence gathered by investigators suggest a suspected gunman who allegedly killed a Democratic state legislator and her husband and wounded another planned a "long-term" campaign against his political enemies.
Vance Boelter, 57, was arrested following a two-day manhunt and charged in the killings of Melissa and Mark Hortman and the shootings of John and Yvette Hoffman. NBC News correspondent Tom Winter discussed the evidence already turned up in the case by federal investigators.
"One, they say that they found a note effectively addressed to the FBI in a Buick that he bought," Winter said. "So he bought an e-bike and a Buick after the shooting, while he was on the run, for $900, and they say inside that they found a note where he effectively says, you know, 'Look, I'm the guy that you're looking for, this is me.'
"One of the other things that we found out is that in the course of their investigation, they were able to pull up cell phones that were associated with Boelter, and they used the location-finding services to try to figure out where he could be. They found his wife's cell phone, they pull over the wife's car and they find the kids inside. They find $10,000 of cash and all of their passports. Now, they haven't implicated her with any sort of wrongdoing. They said that she was cooperative in the discussions, in their discussions with her, but they noted that in the affidavit yesterday. So we'll have to see if there's more information that we find out about that. What exactly was Boelter perhaps planning on? "
"They also found, you know, his travel, the idea that he went to Minneapolis, as they said at the press conference on that Saturday, and then he goes back to a location pretty close to his house where he was living," Winter added. "And then that's ultimately, of course, where he was captured. So a lot of information, a lot of detail in there. Undoubtedly, we'll hear more because they're going to file a detention memo, so we might get some updates on this investigation in the next day or two as they continue their court process here as we move towards an indictment."
Federal investigators said he went to the houses of two other Democratic lawmakers in between the two shootings, but the first was not home and a police officer interrupted his stop at the next before he moved on to the Hortmans' home, where he shot and killed the couple and got into a shootout with police.
"I think the fact that this could have been so much worse is what we're seeing come out of the evidence that was presented," Winter said. "So we obviously have the double homicide that occurs. One of the state lawmakers' houses, the first one, which is horrible. The idea that it was their daughter that called 911 to alert police to what was happening. They obviously uncovered a lot of video evidence from a camera that was near the doorway. Then they find evidence here, we're looking at it right now. This was really something to see in the vehicle, the amount of weapons that he had, including assault-style rifles, handguns, ammunition, other things that were found inside the car, so clearly he was going for something long-term here."
Watch the video below or at this link.