Suspect in Minnesota attacks was a ‘doomsday prepper,’ investigator says

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The man accused of fatally shooting a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband last weekend had given his wife instructions for a “bailout plan” in the event the family ever needed to flee suddenly, according to an FBI agent.

In an affidavit unsealed Friday, the agent, Terry Getsch, said the man charged in the shootings, Vance Boelter, and his wife were “preppers,” a term referring to people who believe a catastrophic event is imminent and go to great lengths to prepare for its arrival.

Hours after the attacks on June 14 – which killed state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and wounded state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette – Boelter sent a text message to his wife and children, according to the court document.

“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,” Getsch wrote.

The Hortman killings were part of what authorities said was Boelter’s broader plot to assassinate politicians. And at some point before the shootings, the agent said, Boelter had given his wife a plan to follow in the event of “exigent circumstances.” Part of that plan entailed traveling to his mother-in-law’s residence in Spring Brook, Wisconsin, roughly 75 miles from Minneapolis.

Boelter’s wife, Jenny, has not been charged with any crime, and the new court filing does not suggest that she and their children knew about the plot.

“The evidence we have at the moment indicates Boelter acted alone,” Inspector Matt Rabe of the Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, police department said in an email. “We are continuing to investigate if he received help after the attacks.”

Both lawmakers in the attack were Democrats. Authorities have said the gunman had a list of additional targets that included dozens of elected officials and some abortion providers.

Boelter has a hearing in federal court next Friday, where he may enter a plea.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.