The man suspected of killing a Minnesota lawmaker and wounding another crawled to officers in order to surrender Sunday after they found him in the woods near his home, bringing an end to a massive, nearly two-day search that put the entire state on edge.
Vance Boelter was arrested and charged with two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. Jail records show he was scheduled to appear in court Monday afternoon.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said during a news conference Monday that she plans to file first-degree murder charges against Boelter. The maximum penalty upon conviction of first-degree murder is life imprisonment without parole in Minnesota, which is not a death penalty state. Later Monday, Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson will deliver a statement regarding possible federal charges against Boelter. A federal charge for first-degree murder could possibly come with a sentence of the death penalty.
Boelter was initially charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder — the highest charges that could be filed in a criminal complaint when there is probable cause to believe a crime has been committed.
Moriarty notes that a second-degree charge typically comes first in cases like this in order to secure search warrants and act quickly. Under Minnesota law, a first-degree murder charge - or any crime that is punishable with life in prison - must be prosecuted by indictment, which is secured through a grand jury.
Boelter is accused of posing as a police officer and fatally shooting former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home early Saturday in the northern Minneapolis suburbs.
Authorities say he also shot Sen. John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette. They were injured at their residence about 9 miles (about 15 kilometers) away.
“One man’s unthinkable actions have altered the state of Minnesota,” Democratic Gov. Tim Walz said at a news conference after Boelter's arrest.
The search for Boelter was the “largest manhunt in the state's history,” Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said. It began when Brooklyn Park officers went to check on Hortman's home and saw her husband gunned down before the shooter fled.
Authorities on Sunday spotted a vehicle Boelter had been using abandoned in rural Sibley County, where he lived, and a police officer reported that he believed he saw Boelter running into the woods, Bruley said. Police called in 20 different tactical teams, divvying up the area and searching for him.
During the search, police said they confirmed someone was in the woods and searched for hours, using a helicopter and officers on foot, until they found Boelter. He gave himself up to police, crawling out to officers in the woods before he was handcuffed and taken into custody in a field, authorities said.
Boelter gave up after being surrounded by police on the ground and in the air, said Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Jail records show Boelter was booked into the Hennepin County Jail early Monday and included two mug shots of Boelter wearing an orange prison shirt.
Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt said during Monday's press conference that, "these violent acts strike at the heart of our democracy."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.