New reporting from the Star Tribune and Minnesota Reformer concerning the targeted shootings of Minnesota state legislators last month by far-right Trump supporter Vance Boelter have raised serious questions about the police response to the assassinations.

Boelter, 57, is facing state and federal murder charges for the fatal shootings of Democratic lawmaker Melissa Hortman, the 61st Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, and her husband Mark. Boelter has also been charged with attempted murder in the shootings of State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, both of whom survived.

The shootings took place early on June 14, the same day millions of people participated in the “No Kings” protests throughout the United States in opposition to Trump’s drive toward dictatorship.

Federal charging documents allege that in-between the shootings, Boelter visited the homes of two other lawmakers, one of whom was not home. Police revealed in search warrants that after the shootings, Boelter sent text messages sent to his family, writing “Dad went to war last night,” and instructing his wife to leave their rural property in Green Isle.

A search of the Boelter’s property by police recovered 48 pistols, revolvers, shotguns and rifles, and boxes of ammunition. He also had nearly $18,000 in cash and 12 separate vehicles registered to him along with a “hit-list” that named, among others, Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, Gov. Tim Walz, Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Wisconsin Rep. Marc Pocan as well the addresses of abortion providers and clinics.

The Hoffmans were the first targets of Boelter, a far-right Christian nationalist, Trump supporter and self-identified “prepper.” Each of them were shot multiple times at around 2:00 a.m. but survived and are recovering. The Hortmans were shot and killed over an hour later inside their residence in suburban Brooklyn Park, with police watching, at approximately 3:35 a.m.

The Star Tribune discovered that in the initial 911 emergency call made by the Hoffmans’ daughter Hope, she included information that Boelter was wearing a mask and impersonating an officer. Police body-camera footage confirms that Brooklyn Park police officers were reviewing the Hoffmans’ Ring camera footage that confirmed Hope’s eyewitness accounts at 2:25 a.m., more than an hour before the Hortmans were killed.

In the initial reporting on the shooting, police claimed they engaged in a shootout with Boelter outside the Hortmans’ residence at 3:35 a.m. after police witnessed Boelter shoot Mark Hortman in the doorway of his home. Police have since walked this back as they have no evidence Boelter shot at them.

In their initial account, police neglected to inform the public that after witnessing Boelter shoot Mark and then enter the Hortmans’ home, the police refused to pursue the shooter. Instead, according to new reporting from the Star Tribune, Brooklyn Park police officers waited for over an hour to enter the residence, even though they heard and saw additional gunfire from inside the home after Boelter entered.

According to the Star Tribune, which reviewed police body camera footage, police did not enter the Hortmans’ residence until 4:38 a.m. Instead of pursuing Boelter, in the hour after witnessing the shooting, police dispatched a drone to search inside the home.

While police waited in their cars and flew the drone, the Hortmans bled to death and their dog, Gilbert was shot and killed by Boelter. The assassin appeared to have escaped out the back door and onto a golf course where he dropped his mask, wig and gun.

The refusal of the police to pursue Boelter allowed him to evade capture for some 43 hours. For nearly two days, the north Minneapolis suburbs surrounding the shootings and Boelter’s rural home in Green Isle were placed on lockdown by authorities as heavily militarized police and federal units searched for the fascist assassin.

In statements that point to a massive cover-up, Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley claimed that the reason the cops did not pursue is because they thought the shooter was “holed up” and “barricaded” inside the residence. This is the same lying justification Uvalde and Texas police trotted out to cover for their inaction during the Uvalde school massacre.

In a show of utter contempt for the population, Bruley claimed in an interview with the Minnesota Reformer earlier this month the reason police did not pursue was because to do so would go against “their deescalation training.”

Despite the fact that the Hoffmans were shot nearly an hour and half earlier by Boelter, Brooklyn Park police did not arrive outside the Hortmans’ home until, allegedly, 10 seconds before Boelter began shooting. Speaking to the Reformer, Bruley attributed this enormous delay to bad luck.

“Do I wish they were there three minutes earlier and potentially save Melissa and Mark’s life?” Bruley said. “Of course I do. But the truth was, it just wasn’t in the cards.”

What was “in the cards” on June 14 was plenty of police miscommunication and incredible coincidences that seemed to only benefit the fascist assassin.

At 2:05 a.m., Hope Hoffman, the daughter of the Hoffmans who was shot at, but not injured, called police to inform emergency services that there was a person impersonating police officers and trying to kill people, including her father, a Democratic state senator.

Twenty minutes after Hope called emergency services, at 2:25 a.m., police body camera footage reviewed by the Star Tribune confirmed officers were in possession of the Ring security footage that showed Boelter in police tactical gear, a mask, and a police-style SUV.

Following reports of a shooting at the Hoffman residence, at 2:26 a.m. a nearby New Hope police officer “self-dispatched” to the home of Democratic State Sen. Ann Rest and spotted what appeared to be a police vehicle.

Both the Reformer and Star Tribune reported that a New Hope police officer spotted what would later be confirmed to be Boelter roughly a block from Sen. Rest’s home at 2:26 a.m. The New Hope police officer, who has yet to be identified, parked alongside Boelter and attempted to speak with him.

According to reports, once the New Hope officer approached and questioned Boelter, he refused to respond and instead stared straight ahead. Despite this strange behavior, the New Hope police officer did not further engage with Boelter and neglected to include this information in the police report. Instead the New Hope police officer continued to check on Sen. Rest at which point Boelter left to pursue other targets.

Roughly an hour after the New Hope police officer questioned Boelter outside Sen. Rest home, Boelter would shoot and kill the Hortmans.

At 4:25 a.m., roughly 50 minutes after the Hortman’s were shot, and nearly two hours and 20 minutes after police first discovered that a man was impersonating police officers while carrying out targeted shootings, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety issued its first metro-wide warning informing police that a man was impersonating police while while targeting lawmakers.

Several Democratic lawmakers reported waking up Saturday morning not knowing there had been an assassination nearby, or that they, themselves were targets.

Brooklyn Park Rep. Huldah Momanyi-Hiltsley lives a few miles from the Hortmans’ home. She told the Reformer she woke up Saturday morning and learned from colleagues, not the police, that the Hortmans had been shot and that the suspect had not been caught.

Momanyi-Hiltsley said she immediately started “freaking out, because I’m the closest to Speaker Hortman’s house, four minutes away.” Momanyi-Hiltsley said she attempted to contact Chief Bruely but “he was busy.” Without any direction or information from the police, Momanyi-Hiltsley said she made the decision to flee her home with her family.