A 57-year-old man has been arrested in the US state of Minnesota on suspicion of killing a Democratic state lawmaker and her husband.

The arrest on Sunday night was the culmination of a huge two-day manhunt following the deaths of Melissa Hortman, a Minnesota Democrat, and her husband Mark. State Governor Tim Walz called it a “politically motivated assassination”.

Police said Vance Luther Boelter was armed at the time of his arrest in a rural area west of Minneapolis, but surrendered peacefully when challenged.

He is also alleged to have shot and wounded Democratic State Senator John Hoffman, and his wife Yvette, who are both now awake in hospital.

Mrs Hoffman said on Sunday that both felt “incredibly lucky to be alive”, as they had been hit by 17 bullets between them.

She and her husband had been “gutted and devastated” by the Hortmans’ deaths, Mrs Hoffman added in her statement. “We have no words,” she wrote. “There is never a place for this kind of political hate.”

Mr Boelter faces two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree attempted murder. He is due to appear in court in Minneapolis at 13:30 local time (14:30 EDT; 18:30 GMT) on Monday.

The suspect is a former political appointee and was once a member of the same state workforce development board as John Hoffman. However it is unclear if they actually knew each other.

Police have not suggested what the alleged killer’s motive might have been, but state senator Amy Klobuchar has joined Governor Walz in suggesting the attacks were politically motivated.

Officials said on Sunday that Vance Luther Boelter was detained after investigators found a car he had used in Sibley County, about 50 miles (80km) from the murder scene in Brooklyn Park.

Air and SWAT teams were deployed to arrest the suspect, following a huge manhunt that was described as the largest in Minnesota’s history.

No police officers were injured during his apprehension, and officials said they were not looking for any other suspects. Mr Boelter’s wife was earlier detained in a traffic stop, but was released because she co-operated with investigators.

Speaking at a press conference with other local officials on Sunday night, Governor Walz said the attack was an “unspeakable act” that had “altered the state of Minnesota”.

“This cannot be the norm. It cannot be the way that we deal with our political differences,” Walz said.

Mayor of Minneapolis Jacob Frey praised the “skill and bravery” of law enforcement agencies following the suspect’s arrest. “Political violence is abhorrent,” he added.

Vance Luther Boelter is accused of impersonating a police officer to carry out the attacks on Saturday, before exchanging fire with police officers and fleeing from the suburban area.

Melissa Hortman had served in the Minnesota House of Representatives for 20 years, and was speaker of the chamber from 2019 to 2025.

As well as having some political involvement, Mr Boelter is a security contractor and religious missionary who has worked in Africa and the Middle East, his online CV says. According to Facebook photos, he once preached as a church pastor in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Investigators reportedly found a list of “targets” in the vehicle that he is thought to have driven for the alleged shootings.

Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, told reporters that he would not describe the notebook found in the car as a “manifesto” as it was not “a treatise on all kinds of ideology and writings”.

Local media have reported that the names included Governor Walz, congresswoman Ilhan Omar, and state Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.

During Sunday’s press conference, Mr Evans did not specify who was featured on the list, but said that state officials had contacted authorities in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska and Iowa so that they could “notify individuals that were on that list”.

Mrs Hoffman’s statement on Sunday also offered an update on her husband’s condition. “John is enduring many surgeries right now and is closer every hour to being out of the woods,” she wrote.

The attacker is thought to have first targeted the Hoffmans – at their home in Champlin, at around 02:00 local time on Saturday.

A Facebook post from someone identifying as Mrs Hoffman’s nephew said that she had thrown herself on her daughter during the assassination attempt, “using her body as a shield to save her life”.

Soon after the attack on the Hoffmans eight miles away, the Hortmans were shot and killed at their home in Brooklyn Park.

Locals told the BBC of their shock. Taha Abuisnaineh, who lives across the street, said he and his wife had known the Hortman family for more than 20 years.

“They were very nice neighbours in a very quiet neighbourhood,” he said. “You don’t see police activity in this neighbourhood. We are very shocked.”

Another resident said she and her husband had received an annual Christmas card from the Hortmans.

“What a big loss for Minnesota,” she said.