Police are investigating a reported overnight break-in at the boarded-up home where Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were fatally shot over the weekend, authorities said Wednesday.
Officers were alerted at 8 a.m. about the break-in at the residence where Hortman and her husband were killed Saturday in what officials have described as a "politically motivated" shooting, Brooklyn Park police said in a statement.
Investigators had processed the home as a crime scene before it was boarded up Sunday morning, with a police trailer camera left in front, officials said.
Hortman's family had "removed items of value from the home on Tuesday," police said.
Wednesday morning, police said they had discovered "that the plywood covering the rear window of the home had been pried off and the window broken to gain entry."
"The home appeared to have been searched by an unknown individual; however, the family has indicated that they don’t believe anything is missing," according to police.
Vance Boelter, 57, was arrested Sunday in rural Sibley County after a massive 40-hour manhunt. He faces state and federal charges.
The slayings of Hortman, 55, and her husband, Mark Hortman, and the woundings of Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, have brought renewed attention to the troubling rise of political violence.
A North Dakota man emailed violent threats to a federal prosecutor and cited the slaying of Hortman and her husband, officials said. Charles Dalzell, 46, of St. Thomas, was arrested and accused of making interstate threats and threats against a federal official.
And Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, appeared to make light of the Minnesota shootings with ill-timed jokes. Lee later deleted a “Nightmare on Waltz Street” quip about the murders.
