A grand jury upgraded murder charges for the suspect accused of carrying out the targeted shootings of two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses.
Vance Boelter was indicted by a federal grand jury last month on six counts of stalking, murder through the use of a firearm, and other charges related to the murder of Minnesota Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, along with wounding Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife.
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Boelter also faces state charges, with prosecutors at the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office initially charging him with two counts of intentional second-degree murder, not premeditated, and two counts of attempted murder on June 14.
On Thursday, a Hennepin County grand jury on Thursday upgraded those charges in an eight-count indictment that slapped Boelter with first-degree premeditated murder charges. The jury also added charges of felony cruelty to an animal and impersonating a police officer with an aggravating factor of driving a vehicle that looked like a police car.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said during a news conference Thursday that the grand jury also indicted Boelter for the attempted murder of state Rep. Kristen Bahner, even though she escaped harm because she wasn’t home.
“It does not matter that the act could not be completed here,” Moriarty said. “In other words, the fact that Bahner wasn’t home at all is not a barrier to proving this charge.”
MINNESOTA LAWMAKER JOHN HOFFMAN WAS SHOT NINE TIMES DURING ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
Boelter is still expected to face trial on similar charges in federal court first, as that case takes priority. But Moriarty pledged that the state case against Boelter would also move forward.
“We feel it’s important to hold Boelter accountable for what he did in this county,” she said. “I will also say that there’s no possibility of anyone — at least in the federal government — pardoning Boelter on anything we do here in state court.”