"This was a targeted attack against individuals who answered the call to public service," said Alvin Winston, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Minneapolis Field Office. The resulting search, he said, was the largest manhunt in the state's history.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said at a news conference Monday that she plans to file first-degree murder charges against Boelter. The maximum penalty upon conviction of first-degree murder is life imprisonment without parole in Minnesota, which is not a death penalty state.
Authorities initially charged him with second-degree murder and attempted murder — the highest charges that could be filed in a criminal complaint when there is probable cause to believe a crime has been committed.