Inside the manhunt for Vance Boelter

This Sunday marks one year since a shocking act of political violence stunned the state. In court Thursday, the accused assassin confessed to murdering the former House Speaker and her husband. He also pleaded guilty to shooting another DFL lawmaker and his wife and confessed to attempting to shoot their daughter.

Immediately, state and federal officials teamed up to lead a massive manhunt for the gunman. It spanned the state, tracking tips from the Twin Cities metro to Green Isle. That's where authorities captured the alleged shooter 43 hours later.

Now one year later, WCCO Investigates goes inside the search and shares what investigators could reveal about how they caught him.

"Every time I walk into this space, certainly one of the first things that will come rushing back are memories of June 14, and the ripple effect of trauma," Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson said.

Jacobson says he got the call around 2:30 a.m. John and Yvette Hoffman had been shot. 

Four hours later this room was going, by then they knew of the assassination of Melissa and Mark Hortman, and dog Gilbert.

"This room filled up relatively quickly at that time, as the word was starting to get out," Jacobson said.

It's where state leaders and local officials gathered.

"I would say a low hum. In a room like this, everybody's working, but also everybody is communicating," Jacobson said.

The new 41 million dollar state Emergency Operations Center wasn't open yet. Jacobson says the circumstance warranted it. 

"As this was being built, we knew that it would be used extensively, but we certainly never expected it to be used in this manner as the first time out," Jacobson said.

He says it's where larger decisions were being made. Mostly resource driven. And where they'd share information with you at home. 

Incident command, boots on the ground, was set up in Brooklyn Park, the community where the Hortman's were shot.  FBI Supervisory Special Agent Pat Rielly was on location.

"You're dealing with complete chaos, and how you can come together and organize everything in the moment and collect as much detail as you can be efficient, knowing that the minutes count, the seconds count," Rielly said.

Rielly says they knew the attacks were targeted. Having that information can change how they react. 

"Anytime you have a manhunt, what you're trying to do is identify who that person is initially, and then just as important, did they act alone, and then the idea is to find, fix, and then apprehend that individual. So, when we say find, we have to locate the physical spot that they're at. So when we say fix, we're talking about how do we set up a scene where we can control the environment and do it as safely as possible for the community, for our law enforcement partners, FBI, as well as the subject, so how do we do that effectively? And then the apprehension, and you know, trying to get them in custody and off the streets," Rielly said.

FBI Special Agent in Charge in Minneapolis Christopher Dotson says the agency brings resources and expertise. 

"We have reach back capability to our lab folks in Quantico, our evidence response teams, crisis negotiations. And in this instance, you know, our surveillance assets," Dotson said/

The ATF also had agents involved in the manhunt says Travis Riddle.

"Everybody was willing to do whatever they were asked," Riddle said.

The former Special Agent in Charge in St. Paul says one of their K-9's discovered a crucial piece of evidence.

"ATF explosive canines have the ability of finding explosives, but they're also trying to find spent shell casings and also firearms. So in this particular case, the canine was used to search area for any evidence, and ultimately the dog did find evidence that had been missed by investigators," Riddle said.

Forty-three hours into the manhunt authorities brought Vance Boelter into custody. While that was the priority, Jacobson says the magnitude of the loss remained present and continues to this day.

"A lot of people knew the Hortmans and the Hoffmans. Just to take in the immense responsibility for investigating this to weighs heavily on the shoulders of those who are responsible. I know we, everybody did the very best they could. We know that we can always know incident is ever managed perfectly, and we know that there's always going to be things that we can do better and how we responded. But I will tell you that those that were here, those that were in the field, this was a heavy, weighty time for people. It was a it was a time I'll never forget," Jacobson said.

Last fall, state and local agencies involved in the investigation paid for an after-action report of the response totaling $429,500. The review by the International Association of Chiefs of Police will be made public when it's complete. Brooklyn Park police told WCCO they expect to receive preliminary findings in July. 

Following the attacks, the governor created a statewide safety council focused on preventing violence, chaired by Commissioner Jacobson. He says the the council will make recommendations to the next administration at the end of the year.