Woman throws herself in front of daughter "We are incredibly lucky to be alive"

Minnesota Senator John Hoffman is riddled with nine bullets. His wife Yvette is hit eight times - and saves their daughter Hope's life when she throws herself in front of her. Now the heroine reports from hospital.

It's hard to imagine what John and Yvette Hoffman must be going through: early on Saturday morning, June 14, around 2 a.m., a man rings their doorbell in Champlin, Minnesota. He is wearing a latex mask and is dressed as a police officer.

When the door is opened, the man pulls out a gun and starts shooting. Yvette Hoffman throws herself on top of her daughter Hope to protect her. She is riddled with eight bullets. Her husband is hit nine times. The couple's child remains unharmed thanks to the mother's heroic actions.

The two victims are immediately taken to hospital and undergo emergency surgery. Yvette survives. She now speaks out and reports: "John is currently undergoing many operations and is getting closer to being out of the woods every hour."

Police are doing the right thing

"Our family is humbled by the love and support we have received from everyone," writes Yvette to Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar. "We are incredibly lucky to be alive." The fact that the suspected shooter was identified so quickly is also thanks to the foresight of local law enforcement.

"We helped the Champlin police," reports Mark Bruley, the police chief of Brooklyn Park, which is 15 kilometers away from Champlin. "When one of our sergeants heard [that shots had been fired at the Hoffman political couple], he very intuitively directed our people to check the home of Melissa Hortman - the congresswoman who lives with us."

When a patrol car pulls up, they notice a car that looks like a police car. A man who looks like a police officer is just coming out of the house. "When our officers confronted him, the person immediately shot at the officers." The shooter manages to escape.

Father of five kills Melissa and Mark Hortman

However, all help comes too late for Melissa and Mark Hortman: the 55-year-old politician and her husband die at the scene. They leave behind two children. "We are shocked and devastated by the loss of Melissa and Mark," wrote Yvette Hoffman from the hospital. "We have no words. There is no place for this kind of political hatred.".

Thanks to the car, it quickly becomes clear that the police are looking for Vance Luther Boelter. At around 6 a.m. that morning, he texts his friends: "I'll be gone for a while. I may be dead soon, so I want you to know that I love you both and I wish it hadn't gone this way," the AP news agency quotes him as saying.

The hunt for Boelter begins. "There's no question that this is the largest manhunt in the history of the state," says police chief Bruley.

It will take 43 hours for the authorities to locate and arrest the suspected perpetrator. They discover him in a field in Sibley County. The suspect lived in the county with his wife and five children.

Motive remains a mystery

Investigators assumed that the man acted alone. They have not yet commented on a motive. In his vehicle, they found a list with 70 names of members of parliament, abortion advocates and celebrities, as well as information about healthcare facilities.

According to AP, investigator Drew Evans says the documents were not political or ideological treatises, but a notebook of names and thoughts. He does not give details. Friends and former colleagues describe Boelter as a devout Christian who attended an evangelical church and participated in campaign rallies for President Donald Trump.

Documents show he was registered as a Republican in Oklahoma in 2004 before moving to Minnesota, where voters do not declare party affiliation. Investigators also found stickers for the "No Kings" protests against Donald Trump in his car.