A federal prosecutor revealed on Monday that the suspected assassin, who shot Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman and state Rep. Melissa Hortman along with their spouses early Saturday morning, also visited the residences of two other state lawmakers between the attacks.

Vance Boelter, the 57-year-old man accused of murdering Hortman and her husband and attempting to kill Hoffman and his wife, stopped by the homes of two other politicians while impersonating a law enforcement officer, according to Joseph Thompson, the acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota, USA Today reported. Thompson didn’t name the other two lawmakers, but said one was a state representative and the other was a state senator.

After shooting and wounding Sen. Hoffman and his wife, Boelter traveled to the home of a state representative in Maple Grove, Minnesota. After arriving at the home, Boelter rang the doorbell at around 2:24 a.m., Thompson said during a press conference on Monday.

“Again, he was dressed as a law enforcement officer, wearing a tactical vest and body armor, carrying a handgun and a flashlight, and wearing that same hyper-realistic silicon mask,” the prosecutor added.

“Fortunately, the state representative was not home. She and her family were gone on vacation,” Thompson said. “So Boelter left.”

The suspected assassin then traveled to another state senator’s home in New Hope, Minnesota. Outside of the home, Boelter parked his black SUV, which had a police license plate, in the street. As Boelter was parked outside, a New Hope police officer arrived on the scene to do a wellness check on the lawmaker after learning that Hoffman and his wife had been shot. The New Hope police officer believed Boelter was another officer who had been dispatched to do a wellness check and rolled down the window of her patrol car to speak with him.

“Boelter did not respond. According to the officer, he just sat there and stared straight ahead,” Thompson said. “So the New Hope police officer who had been dispatched to the scene proceeded to the state senator’s home, and she waited for other law enforcement to arrive. When they did, by the time they did, Boelter had left the scene.”

The suspected assassin’s next target was state Rep. Hortman in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, where he shot and killed her and her husband, Mark, in their home. Boelter allegedly had a “hit list,” containing the names of numerous Democratic lawmakers and abortion clinics in his vehicle, as The Daily Wire previously reported. Among those named on the “hit list” were Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Rep. Ilhan Omar, Rep. Angie Craig, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan.

Boelter, who was appointed to Minnesota Democrat Governor Tim Walz’s Workforce Development Council in 2019, was “very conservative,” his roommate told CBS News. The roommate added that Boelter “would be offended if people thought he was a Democrat,” referring to rumors spreading on social media that Boelter was a leftist.

The suspected assassin was arrested by authorities in a wooded area near his home on Sunday. He is charged with six counts, including stalking, murder, and multiple firearms-related offenses, according to USA Today.

“It is not an exaggeration to say that his crimes are the stuff of nightmares,” Thompson said. “Boelter stalked his victims like prey.”

Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) blamed President Donald Trump for the shootings that took place in Minnesota, apparently targeting Democratic lawmakers in politically motivated attacks — and CNN anchor John Berman gave him no pushback.

Merkley joined Berman on Monday morning, just hours after it was announced that the suspect in the case had been apprehended, and he immediately pivoted to attack Trump when asked about the political climate in the country.

WATCH:

In an unbelievable moment just now on CNN, Democrat Senator Jeff Merkley just blamed President Trump for the weekend shootings of Minnesota lawmakers.

“I feel like Trump has really popped the lid off of the rhetoric and the the sense of hate and violence, and promoted this type… pic.twitter.com/v58LSfTyZ5

— DeVory Darkins (@devorydarkins) June 16, 2025

Berman set Merkley up for the attack, framing his question about the Minnesota shootings in such a way as to suggest that the political climate was responsible for driving the shooter to act.

“There was a state representative, Democratic leader, of the state legislature in Minnesota killed over the weekend, a state senator shot,” Berman began. “How would you describe the political atmosphere in this country this morning?”

“I feel like Trump has really popped the lid off of the rhetoric and the sense of hate and violence, and promoted this type of environment,” Merkley said, suggesting several times that the threats were only coming from the right. “It’s profoundly disturbing for all of us. We have seen increased threats across the country, you’re probably familiar with the pizza threats, we’ve seen more of that where pizzas or other food is delivered to people’s families that they haven’t ordered just to say from the right-wing, we know who you are, we know where you live.”

“I can tell you all of our families feel a greatly heightened sense — let me just say my heart goes out to the families in Minnesota. How horrific — horrific for the whole country, but particularly we’re holding the folks in Minnesota in our hearts,” he added.