Minnesota shootings suspect was a ‘prepper’, FBI says

The suspect accused of fatally shooting a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband in a gun rampage last week was a doomsday “prepper”, according to the FBI.

The wife of the accused, Vance Boelter, told investigators the family was among a small group of Americans who “prepare for major or catastrophic incidents”, said a court document.

Boelter, 57, has been charged with killing Democratic House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, last Saturday.

He also seriously wounded Democratic State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. Police say there is evidence he was planning to target others.

Police captured Mr Boelter in woods last Sunday after a two-day manhunt.

His wife was pulled over in a traffic stop hours after the shootings. She was taking their four children to stay with friends, according to investigators.

Jenny Boelter told the authorities her husband had warned her in a message that she should flee, documents show.

“The text stated something to the effect of they should prepare for war, they needed to get out of the house and people with guns may be showing up to the house,” wrote FBI agent, Terry Getsch, in an affidavit released on Friday.

In her car, investigators found about $10,000 in cash, passports and two guns. Mrs Boelter has not been charged with any crime.

She said her husband had given her a “bailout plan”, for what to do if she ever needed to leave the house.

Mrs Boelter also said her husband had a business partner in the north-western US state of Washington and that they ran a security company and “fishing outfit” called “Red Lion” in Congo, Africa.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, has called the shootings an “act of targeted political violence”.

According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, Mr Boetler wrote a rambling and incoherent letter addressed to the FBI in which he claimed the state’s governor had ordered him to kill Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar as part of a supposed plot for Walz to take her spot in the Senate.

There is no evidence of any such plot.

Klobuchar and Minnesota’s other US senator, Tina Smith, along with Walz, were among Democratic politicians on a list of around 70 targets found in Mr Boetler’s possession, according to local media.

The suspect disguised himself as a police officer to gain access to the homes of the two US lawmakers he shot, police have said. He was wearing a vest with a Taser and a badge.

Yvette Hoffman, who survived the attack, was released from the hospital on Thursday, while her husband remains in care.

Mrs Hoffman was shot while shielding her daughter, Hope, from gunfire. It was Hope who called 911.