Brooklyn Park police chief: Lawmaker shootings were 'An attack on our democracy'
Lawmaker shootings: Brooklyn Park police chief reflects
FOX 9's Paul Blume sat down with Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley, who was at the center of last weekend’s attacks at the homes of two Minnesota lawmakers.
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. (FOX 9) - Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley opened up about the horrific attack that unfolded in his community over the weekend. Bruley sat for a one-on-one interview with FOX 9 to discuss the political assassination of his friend, Melissa Hortman, the massive manhunt to find her killer, and his mission to deliver justice in a case that has rocked the entire country.
"I made it really clear to staff here, like, this is an attack on our democracy," said Bruley. "This is a horrible tragedy - Melissa, Mark, were great community members. Melissa was a friend of mine. And it does make it personal."
Personal friend
Brooklyn Park police chief reacts to lawmaker shootings
FOX 9's Paul Blume sat down with Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley to get his thoughts in the aftermath of the shootings that killed Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark.
What they're saying:
For Bruley, a law enforcement veteran, the deadly attacks were personal. He was friends with Minnesota House DFL leader Melissa Hortman. He had her personal cell phone, explaining he would call Hortman when he needed a new law or law change to help protect their community. He recalled fondly that she called him, "My chief."
"It is personal," Bruley told FOX 9. "I mean on a lot of fronts. One is, it is our lawmaker. It is our community member. And it is somebody that I knew really well that was a great representative for this police department and this city."
Remembering the Hortmans: Seven ways in one day
Melissa and Mark Hortman were fatally shot at their Brooklyn Park home Saturday morning. Their children released a statement Monday night with seven ways you can honor their legacy.
An unimaginable call
Timeline:
Bruley was at home early Saturday morning when he received an unimaginable call from one of his sergeants. He was told there had been an officer-involved shooting at the Hortman home and police on scene could not account for the lawmaker.
"That's a nightmare situation for a police chief to get that call," said Bruley. "You got an officer-involved shooting. You got a senator up in another community that has been shot. And now you have Melissa, essentially her home being invaded and we interrupt it. This is heavy, to say the least."
Bruley rushed to a chaotic scene.
"I know that the sergeant told me on the phone, like, ‘We don't know if he has taken Melissa hostage. We don't even know if Melissa's in there. We have not heard from her or seen her,’" recalled Bruley. "So, they were worried on all fronts, like, is he still in there?"
While a fatally wounded Mark Hortman was pulled out of harm’s way, Brooklyn Park police had to secure the scene by flying a drone into the house to make sure it was safe to enter. That’s because Bruley’s officers fired on the armed suspect at the front door before he burst inside. The police were not certain if he was hiding in wait.
"That's our protocol, is to slow things down and be as safe as possible," said Bruley.
He continued, "They were worried on all fronts, like, ‘Is he still in there?’ I think there was a working theory that they had shot the suspect. Turns out they didn't, obviously. He did not have any bullet wounds. But they saw blood in the entryway and assumed that maybe it was the suspect's blood going downstairs. Very chaotic scene, officers doing the best they can to piece this thing together and do what they can."
Perimeter established
The backstory:
Once they realized the suspect had fled the house on foot, Brooklyn Park police immediately established a three- to four- mile-wide perimeter, shutting down everything in and around the Hortman’s Edinburgh Golf Course home. An emergency, shelter in place alert was sent out to everyone in the area to let them know there was an individual on the loose that police believed was armed and dangerous.
FOX 9 cameras captured SWAT teams combing through the neighborhoods for hours, searching on the ground and from the air with drones while checkpoints were established to eyeball any vehicles leaving the area.
"Especially an individual that is this dangerous, that is this, you know, compelled to try to get away, it would not be uncommon for them to commandeer a vehicle or take somebody hostage or get into a vehicle, that type of thing, and try to drive out of the perimeter to escape. So that is why we have checkpoints stopping every vehicle," explained Bruley.
Manhunt comes to an end
Dig deeper:
Bruley called the manhunt for Vance Boelter the largest in Minnesota history. He promised his department would stop at nothing to capture the man believed responsible for what authorities have referred to as political assassinations. He listened to the final radio calls as more than 20 heavily armed SWAT teams, including Brooklyn Park’s, converged on Boelter’s position in rural Sibley County on Sunday evening.
"We had made his world so small, that was the last place he probably had some resources hidden that he could get," said Bruley when asked why he thought Boelter was found within a mile of his Green Isle home. "He was kind of a prepper. And I think he thought that there were resources, money, maybe go bag, guns, who knows, that he can get from that location if he could sneak back in there. That didn't surprise me. Quite honestly, I was surprised that he surrendered."
He concluded, "You can't come into Brooklyn Park, shoot a lawmaker and her husband, inflict that kind of damage and not be held accountable. Just we don't allow it and that is why this investigation would have never stopped until we captured him."