Vance Boelter's 43 hours on the run expose mistakes in law enforcement response
https://www.startribune.com/vance-boelters-43-hours-on-the-run-expose-mistakes-in-law-enforcement-response/601546404
archive link:
https://archive.ph/PNohX
A Minnesota Star Tribune timeline of that deadly weekend shows how quick thinking by some law enforcement agencies may have prevented even more deaths. At the same time, interviews, investigative details and law enforcement records reveal that the State Patrol denied initial calls to launch a helicopter to help find the suspect in the minutes after Sen. John Hoffman and his family were attacked, one of several missed opportunities that could have prevented the killings or stopped Boelters escape.
Boelter is now in federal custody awaiting a potential trial on charges that he stalked and assassinated the Hortmans and severely wounded Hoffman, his wife, Yvette, and shot at their daughter, Hope. While the law says Boelter is presumed innocent until proven guilty, prosecutors have presented a mountain of evidence that implicates him in the crimes, including his written admission to the FBI that he is the shooter at large in Minnesota.
Boelter did not respond to an interview request for this story and his attorney declined to comment because his criminal case is pending.
2:02 a.m., An attack in the night: An apparent law enforcement officer pounds on the front door and rings the doorbell at the Hoffman home in a leafy, suburban neighborhood in Champlin. Flashing police lights on an SUV reflect off neighboring garage doors in the dark. The officer tells the Hoffmans to come down with their hands up.