Vance Boelter, the man accused of fatally shooting Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, as well as wounding state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, made his first court appearance on Monday.
Boelter is facing a slew of federal and state charges. We also learned more chilling details about the assassinations, and even more frightening, the possibility of others.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson told WCCO's Jason DeRusha Monday afternoon here that there is more to come. What was shared Monday was merely the start.
"Surveillance video showing him at the door, and you can hear him, wearing that mask, it's the stuff of nightmares," explained Thompson. "It really is disturbing. The videos are awful and horrific, and that's all over the place at various police departments, federal custody, or, or federal agencies, and we're bringing it out all together now. You know, what I've provided this morning and what's laid out in the complaint, affidavit is a summary of it, but it's really just the tip of the iceberg. It's what we were able to pull together over the weekend while we were looking for him."
Boelter remains behind bars on $5 million bond. His next court appearance is set for later this month.
Thompson also talked about the decision to file federal charges in addition to the state charges that are being filed as well.
"We thought those are appropriate. It's a case of national importance," says Thompson. "We wanted to leverage all of our resources federal, state, and local. We're working with all of them hand in hand throughout the weekend, and we'll continue to do so going forward. So we're supplementing the effort to make sure that he gets held to account."
The federal charges bring the possibility of the death penalty, which has been banned in Minnesota for over 100 years for state charges. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty says they plan to file first-degree murder and attempted murder charges.
Former Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman, who was also a state senator, told WCCO's Chad Hartman that he believes federal prosecutors should respect the laws of Minnesota when it comes to the death penalty.
"Minnesota has considered the death penalty on a number of occasions. The legislature and the people have said no and I had the privilege of serving in the Minnesota Senate on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and we voted it down in committee," Freeman explains. "The feeling was that the death penalty is not humane and not just and shouldn't be followed. In my view, that question ought to be decided by the people of Minnesota, and that we have done that on numerous times in the Minnesota legislature, which has refused to adopt the death penalty."
Freeman also revealing to Chad that he was one of the names on Boelter's list of targets.