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CNN International: Suspect In Minnesota Lawmaker Shootings Caught; Israel: At Least Four Killed In Latest Iranian Strike; Iranian Health Min.: At Least 224 Killed In Israeli Strikes; Four In Same Family Killed In Air Strike On Israel. Aired 12:00-1a ET
Aired June 16, 2025 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:00]
DREW EVANS, SUPT. MINNESOTA BUREAU OF CRIMINAL APPREHENSION: You know, the question is, were there any key mistakes? We certainly -- at this point, there's a lot of information we can't share right now in this.
What I will tell you is there is some incredibly dedicated law enforcement personnel, criminal intelligence analysts that were all working day in, day out, working together. And what I will tell you is that the public, certainly, is always of his assistance to us in law enforcement and incredibly diligent people in the area that provided us the assistance that we needed to get our teams that were already down there that last piece over. But they were certainly in the area and working diligently together on that.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Drew, (inaudible). Do you have any indication that anyone helped him?
EVANS: The question is, any indication anybody helped him? We continue to look into that. I don't have anything beyond what we shared earlier today. This investigation, as chief really noted, will be continuing to expand at this point in time to make sure that we continue to look at all angles of this, and everybody did help him. We will certainly hold them accountable for doing that in this process.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Drew, (inaudible) from NBC News. Can you tell us how the Hoffmans helped save lives. And what did suspect say when he is taken into custody?
EVANS: The question was how the Hoffmans helped save lives and what he -- I don't have the specific -- and then what did he say when he's taken into custody? I don't have the specifics on what he said when he was taken into custody.
You know, we're incredibly grateful that the Hoffmans are still here with us at this point in time, and that they will be, hopefully, on a continued path to recovery and that they will provide us the information. We've been able to talk to them today, and they will be providing key information to us as part of this investigation moving forward.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) from CBS News. Did the suspect have a phone with him when he was caught? Is he tracked in any way or he was just caught (inaudible) tips?
EVANS: At the end, the question was, did he have a phone with him? I don't have the specifics on everything that was with him when he was arrested at this time. I will say he was armed, and that he came -- when he was taken into custody. But we'll be sifting through all of that information from there.
(CROSSTALK)
EVANS: What's that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you expand on weapons?
EVANS: I can't on the weapons at this time. So --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).
EVANS: Yeah. The question is, again, expanding on the Hoffmans and providing addition. What I'll tell you, Chief Bruley mentioned this yesterday. And his police officers are going to check proactively on Speaker Hortman's home at that time. If that had not had happened, I have every confidence that this would have continued throughout the day.
By his officers encountering him at that, he was forced to abandon the vehicle that he had at that time and lead to what we got to today. So by that incident occurring and the law enforcement communication that was occurring, it allowed the proactive approach that was able to get to the point where they're able to now eventually take them into custody today.
(CROSSTALK)
EVANS: Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. I just want to clarify. There's a little bit of detail that Ramsey County Sheriff has provided. I just wanted to see if we can nail it down. So, the detail that he had provided to the Star Tribune is that for about an hour Boelter had tried to evade arrest and that eight teams crawled in a ditch to try to corral him. I don't know if you have that level of detail. But, additionally, because we're able to take him into custody without incident, what did your law enforcement officers say to him to lure him out and (inaudible).
EVANS: So, the question is about the teams and then what was done to get him into custody. So we don't get into operational details for the safety of our law enforcement going forward in terms of what it is. But what I can say is the incredible teamwork that was done in the large number of law enforcement certainly put us in a position where they were able to maneuver into this area to safely put him in a place where, you know, I don't know what was going through his head and I wouldn't speculate.
But they have incredibly professional teams that are trained on this and how to take somebody into custody, and they provided the commands and he gave up peacefully.
JONAH KAPLAN, WCCO INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Jonah -- Superintendent, Jonah Kaplan from WCCO and CBS News. First, if you could just speak personally for you and all your colleagues. I imagine this is a relief for a lot of you.
Can you talk about what it means you personally to have this done only a few hours ago when you weren't sure if he was in the State, let alone the country?
EVANS: The question is the relief for all of us. I mean, the relief for us in law enforcement is we feel an incredible amount of pressure to bring a person into custody, to bring safety to the community. These professionals behind me and their teams, this is what they do. This is what they get paid to do, and they're honored to do the work on behalf of Minnesotans every single day. So the relief is that we can bring that sense of relief to communities across Minnesota legislators that were on that list, and that's what we want to do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).
[00:05:00]
EVANS: All right. The question was on the call and when did we get it. It was happening over the time. I don't have the specific timeline, but we were alerted as soon as there was a spotting of the person in the area for all of the command staff here and as our teams continue to work and as they worked in and honed in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you speak a little more about the technology that was used? You said today earlier that we received about 400 tips.
EVANS: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We know there was surveillance footage that was used for pictures. You just mentioned someone talking about the air team. Was it a fixed wing? Was it a helicopter that was following him? What role did the technology play?
EVANS: Yeah. The question is what role, and I can't get into all the technology, obviously. Just some of it is that we'd used. Don't share the information to make sure that we protect it, so it's utilized going forward.
However, I will say that both UAVs throughout the day are incredibly important to our teams, some unmanned aerial vehicles that we'd use, that there were numerous ones out there providing that. And then our helicopter in this situation provides an incredibly important bird's eye view that also allows us special views to be able to see individuals such as infrared and others that we utilize on a regular basis.
So technology in cases like this are incredible tools to be able to supplement the great hard work of all the people that were on the ground every day.
(CROSSTALK)
EVANS: Let's go here first.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).
EVANS: So, right now, he is being interviewed at a law enforcement facility. More information on where he will actually be ultimately will be released at a later time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What law enforcement agency or facility?
EVANS: I can't share where he is currently, but that information will be available soon.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).
EVANS: Yes. So this is, where was he hiding? This is in a rural area. These are fields and different wooded settings around, and that's where he was ultimately captured. Sibley County is, you know, a rural county in the state of Minnesota. And so it's what a lot of that streams, fields, woods, crops. And so where he was ultimately taken into custody was in a field.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did the infrared technology help find him? Identify him?
EVANS: I don't --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think Commissioner had mentioned some of it earlier. I wonder if that's something that helped.
LT. COLONEL JEREMY GEIGER, MINNESOTA STATE PATROL, ASSISTANT CHIEF: Yes. Absolutely. It assisted previously and we're -- they were out there. The helicopter was out there before the sun went down. But after that happened, yes, that technology did came into play.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (CROSSTALK)
GEIGER: I'll turn that back over to the superintendent here too. But I don't think that information is available right now.
CHIEF MARK BRULEY, BROOKLYN PARK, MINNESOTA POLICE DEPT.: Mark Bruley, Police Chief, Brooklyn Park. The question is how long did we know that he was there? A vehicle that we believe that he was in was spotted many hours before and had been abandoned. An alert police officer believed that he may have seen the individual running into the woods, and that started a large scale perimeter that we set up or down in Sibley County set up. And we started to deploy resources, including the Brooklyn Park SWAT team and along with many other SWAT teams to contain an extremely large area knowing that this is a very dangerous individual.
During that, we got privy to additional information of an individual that was in the woods, and that search went on for many hours until ultimately we were able to locate him in the woods. And in approximately an hour and a half or so, we were able to close the distance in with the technology and the State Patrol helicopter and where we are able to call him out to us.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible), ABC News. (Inaudible) act of domestic terrorism.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. It's absolutely way too soon to say that right now. That's where the investigation. We have been just solely focused on the manhunt. And the goal was -- is to give some calm to the situation of many individuals that were on the list that were worried about their safety.
And this is a very dangerous individual for our community, and that's why so many resources and such a great collaboration came together to focus on removing him from society so that we can restore some sort of calm and bring some healing to our community and to our state.
Now begins the hard work of looking at what the motive is, looking at -- putting this case together, and so that that's yet to come.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).
BRULEY: It was multiple states. I don't have the exhaustive list, but it was multiple states that running.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) some states are on list.
EVANS: There's a few. I don't want to say it, because it won't be exhaustive. But, you know, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, some others that were on there, there was a variety. Nebraska, Iowa, we've had contact.
What I will tell you, and I will not get into any more specifics beyond that, we are in coordination with our federal partners and our fusion centers in those states to coordinate with local law enforcement and the FBI in those states and the state fusion centers that are there to be able to provide that information and notify those individuals that they were on that list.
[00:10:00]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So are you concerned that there's other people out there that could have been working with him?
EVANS: The question is, are we concerned there's other people out there that could be working with him? We will fully explore that. I've said, on this, we are relatively confident -- we are confident that the violence that he committed and the murders he committed and the attempted murders, that he conducted that activity alone.
We will be exploring if there are any broader network. We have not uncovered any of that at this time, but that will be part of our investigation, and we will fully explore that. So thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. We'll go. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everyone.
BRIAN ABEL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello to everybody watching. I'm Brian Abel in Atlanta. You have been watching a press conference in Minnesota announcing the 57 year old suspect in the killing of a state lawmaker has been caught.
He is the suspect in two separate shootings targeting Minnesota state lawmakers in their homes. Melissa Hortman and her husband were both killed early Saturday morning. She was the top Democrat in the Minnesota House.
And officials say state senator John Hoffman and his wife were also shot, but they survived the attack and are recovering. That press conference beginning with Governor Tim Walz, saying that the state of Minnesota owes deep gratitude to law enforcement for putting this person into custody and that Minnesota State Patrol were the ones that put the handcuffs on the suspect.
The governor also saying that Melissa Hortman exemplified what it is to be a Minnesotan. That to their family, to the family of all the victims here, he said that every ounce of effort will be made to make sure justice is served. Then also provided update that Senator Hoffman is out of surgery, and his wife, Yvette, is healing.
He also said that these kind of actions -- this, quote, "Cannot be the norm, cannot be the way we resolve our political differences." We also did hear a little bit more from law enforcement in the state. One law enforcement official saying that the suspect betrayed trust, the trust of the uniform that it is supposed to represent. We also learned that he was seen in the area.
That is what brought law enforcement to this area in Sibley County. That they converge on the area, that he is now in custody under state criminal warrant, charged with the murders of Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, as well as the shooting of Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.
This was thirty three hours after those incidents when this suspect was brought into custody, finishing the largest manhunt in Minnesota history according to law enforcement. We also learn more about how this moment here that you're seeing on your screen happened, the arrest.
It was done by the State Patrol. It did not result in any injury to law enforcement. There was no force used by law enforcement. In fact, the suspect crawled to law enforcement after he was surrounded. He was armed. He was in a rural wooded area in Sibley County.
I do want to go now to Jason Park, a retired FBI supervisory special agent joining me now from Fripp Island, South Carolina. And thank you, sir, for joining us. You were listening to that press conference just like I was. What stood out to you?
JASON PACK, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: Several things, actually. There was a lot of information in that news conference. Number one, and we talked about this for the couple days that we've been tracking this story, it was a tip from the public who tightened that perimeter for law enforcement by reporting that he was seen in the area that allowed law enforcement to move resources in there.
You heard the superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension say there were about 20 SWAT teams in there. They did kind of what looks like a surrounding callout where they'll surround a target.
And in this case he crawled out of a field, also talking about the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in the State Patrol helicopter and some drones and some aviation assets used to maybe look, infrared for looking -- looking into the ground to see what they could see. And, ultimately, they -- looks like they found him in a field. So that was one thing.
The second thing is, the manhunt is over now. And as what they also said is the work is just beginning. So all of those pictures we've seen coming out of this crime scenes at both of the families' residences there, they're going to have to tie those pieces of forensic and digital evidence back to the charges that they have lodged in state.
And then you mentioned -- he mentioned that he was speaking with the federal authorities, they may be looking at charges, like hate crime or a firearms charge where a murder happens, discharge with a firearm. So they're trying to see if the elements of the crime, any of the pieces of forensic evidence that they have collected will kind of meet this, and it's going to take a few days or longer to do that.
[00:15:00]
But you can bet that there'll probably be state charges. And if the federal charges fit, they'll go after those two, I would think.
ABEL: All right. Jason Pack, please stand by. I do want bring in Whitney Wild now. Whitney, you are in Minnesota as well. And Blaine, there, you were in that press conference. What did you learn?
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we learned was that this was a, again, a multi-jurisdictional effort. What we know is that there were 20 SWAT teams who were engaged in trying to find Vance Boelter. What we know is that the list of law enforcement agencies is very long, and it took this real boots on the ground, old school law enforcement, working together to try to fan out the area surrounding where a car had been found earlier today.
So I'm going to take you to, and I believe we have some video from earlier today, Sibley County, Minnesota. This is an area that is 50 miles Southwest of Minneapolis, and this is where the bulk of the law enforcement activity happened.
And what we saw earlier today was this vehicle, this black vehicle, on this -- basically, on the side of the road that had been abandoned. And what we saw was law enforcement combing through that vehicle and then fanning out from that vehicle, marching through these fields and forests. And it was in that area that law enforcement says that they were able to eventually take Vance Boelter into custody.
And while we asked for a little bit more detail about what happened in those moments leading up to when he was taken into custody and then how they were able to lure him out, law enforcement would not provide those details.
But what they said they did was they basically, you know, situated their tactical units in such a way that once they were able to confront him, they made very clear that, you know, he basically had -- he had nowhere to go. That this -- that they were -- that they had surrounded this area, and then they were able to convince him to come out.
And what we know is that, you know, on these SWAT teams, especially SWAT teams in a metropolitan area like this where there are so many, they are using their top negotiators to try to bring people like Vance Boelter out. And so, they were able to negotiate him out of that area. He was taken into custody while he was armed, Brian. That's a really key piece of information. They took him into custody, no incident, even though he was armed with a gun.
Law enforcement did not expand upon how many firearms he might have had, what type of firearm he might have had, but it is simply a remarkable feat that relied on the coordination and cooperation of a very long list of law enforcement agencies, you know, from Brooklyn Park, local police all the way up to the U.S. Marshals, the FBI, the ATF, the Minnesota State Police, the list goes on and on.
I mean, you know, it's important to point out the people who were involved in this. So there's also -- you know, there's Tri Cities, South Metro, SWAT, Richfield Police Department, the Sibley County Sheriff. The list of agencies involved in this is truly remarkable, and it took that amount of effort to try to bring this man into custody after a very complex investigation that lasted 43 hours and what law enforcement called the largest manhunt in Minnesota history, Brian.
ABEL: It's a local county, state, federal, all of those agencies working together. That was certainly applauded in that press conference. I do, for our viewers, want to quickly point out that we are using the last name, the pronunciation of Boelter because that's what we've heard, the suspect say in previous videos. Some law enforcement are saying a Boelter just so that people are not confused. We're talking about the same individual here.
Whitney, from that press conference did you hear anybody ask or did law enforcement in any way provide any information? I know they're holding things close to the vest about whether he said anything to law enforcement when he was captured.
WILD: Yeah. That question was asked. They declined to provide any more detail on that. And, you know, additionally, we asked how law enforcement was able to coax him out. I mean, sometimes we hear law enforcement, you know, appeal to, you know, certain elements of their personal life, their wives, their children, and, you know, make sure that the suspect understands that the totality of their actions are affecting their loved ones.
Sometimes that's an effective strategy to lure people out. So we asked law enforcement tonight what did the negotiators say to convince him to come out, and they would not provide those details.
Again, they would not say if he said anything when he was taken into custody. But that is information that we're certainly hoping to hear, when he makes his first court appearance. We don't yet know when that's going to happen, but we're keeping close watch on that.
But at this moment, we know that he is in custody, and we're going to keep combing through those court records to try to bring the very latest from there, because it's really in that first court hearing where we actually sometimes can get quite a bit of detail, Brian.
ABEL: Whitney Wild, a very long day for you. I know. We really appreciate your reporting. Thank you.
All right. Let's bring back Jason Pack now. And, Jason, you heard Whitney there mention that some of this information law enforcement are not giving right now, including where this suspect is at the moment, though he has been charged apparently under a warrant. Why is that the case? What does that tell you?
PACK: Well, it says a couple of things. They're trying to protect his rights and do things by the book because now they have a prosecution on their hands. And so they want to make sure they do this case very methodically and then by the book.
[00:20:00]
So, they're probably have read him as Miranda rights since it's a custodial interview. And whether or not he's agreed to talk to them is -- remains one of the unknown questions. It's the questions that we would like answers to. But -- and law enforcement has their priorities, so we may not know that.
Where we may find more information also is in this affidavit supporting the criminal complaint there in the State of Minnesota. Those will outline the probable cause, you know, most of it from being in the public eye, but we may learn some additional details from this affidavit in the criminal complaint.
ABEL: Jason, in the 33 or so hours that this manhunt has been underway, we have learned a fair amount about this person's background. Given that, where do you believe investigators will begin questioning the suspect?
PACK: Well, I think it's a multifaceted investigation still, because you've got the intelligence analysts and the agents and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the local police, all these teams together looking at associates, interviewing people that may know them, as far as neighborhood canvases and those types of things.
But they're also going to be looking into the digital forensics and piecing together any social media. Was he on the dark web anywhere? Any types of information that could help them prove the elements of the crimes for which he's been charged and possibly for any crimes that they're considering charging. So they're going to take a deep dive into that and just kind of look very, very closely with the microscope's fine detail to see what they can find out about that.
ABEL: We heard multiple times, it was mentioned in that press conference, Jason, the coordination between all the various agencies. In your career have you seen that always be the case, especially with how long this manhunt went on for?
PACK: Yes. And, I saw you had Commissioner Davis on earlier. I was at the Boston Marathon bombings with him. That was probably the largest one I was a part of. That was seamless. There are, obviously, people have what we call competing priorities and agencies, but the number one goal is to get folks safely incarcerated and arrested and mitigate that threat. And so that's happened here.
People come together no matter what badge you wear. The goal is the same, and that's to protect and serve the public and bring those who commit crimes to justice. So I would say, like, a lot of people may not realize that there are people just like Mr. Boelter here on the pathways to radicalization and violence. The pathways to violence, as we say, are paved with grievances.
So every day, law enforcement around the country gets tips from various sources, from online tips, from phone calls, from people calling in themselves. And they have to go assess these people every day and have to be right 100 percent of the time.
So sometimes we see in cases like this that it's not just one day that you snap. It's several things that happen. There are stressors in your life, marital stresses, financial stresses, loss of jobs, or loss of something, and that just reinforces the grievances until one day that they act on it. So, hopefully, that's the one of the things that they're looking for too. I'm sure the FBI's behavioral analysis unit will look at the manifesto there and as well as the other evidence recovered in the vehicle.
I would say, Ryan, the one important point here too is we heard it at the top of the news conference, and that's the actions of the police officers on that midnight shift. I don't know if you've ever worked a midnight shift. That's when a lot of things happen and not a lot of people are around to do anything about it.
And he mentioned in that press conference that those actions likely disrupted Boelter's plan to keep going or it could have been a lot worse. So I think that's an important point. It gets talked about a lot, but just knowing what goes on a midnight shift in law enforcement and how there's not that many resources there and the forethought that they had to send the officers to the other address and encounter Boelter at that scene really made a huge difference in this situation, and definitely saved lives and he said that as much in the press conference.
ABEL: Could've made all the difference. Now we've had this image for a little while that's been on our screen here for a moment. Now we also hear some more details about how he was captured as well and where.
Based on this image, we don't see him looking too dirty. What what's your takeaway about how he was apprehended based on the information we just heard in that press conference combined with this image here?
PACK: Well, it sounds like he abandoned his vehicle and he was on the move. There was some information earlier that he may have been familiar with that area. I don't know if that's true or not. A lot of times, people who feel pressure and are on the run will go to places they are familiar to them or they feel safe in. So that might be the case.
But, ultimately, it didn't like he was he -- he was not dirty as a lot of your other folks have mentioned tonight. There's no dirt on his face. It didn't look like he was down in the mud or dirt hiding. But he did hide in a field and the 20 or so SWAT team surrounded him with the assistance of the aviation units and called him out, and he came to them.
[00:25:00]
So, he had to feel the weight of the world, and the thin blue line of law enforcement closing in on him. So he did the right thing.
And I also think it's remarkable. This was a very volatile situation. It could have been a lot worse. He had nothing to lose by going and taking somebody hostage. And so kudos to law enforcement out there for apprehending Mr. Boelter Bolter before something terrible happened as a result of him trying to flee and get away.
ABEL: And to your point, this was the largest manhunt in Minnesota history according to law enforcement in that press conference. I do want to hit on, Jason, real quick, something that the governor said. He was speaking to the family and said that every ounce of effort will be made to make sure that justice is served.
In your role when you were with the FBI, is that something that you could feel while you were doing your work. That you felt that this is what you needed to do for families?
PACK: 100 percent. And it's hard to see through that hard shell of law enforcement, but the ones the men and women I worked with, both federal, state, and locals, you can see the empathy, and that's the whole reason they sign up to do the job that they do.
Sometimes it's hard to see that when we see the pictures coming out of Los Angeles or New York or some of these other places where these battles are taking place or these skirmishes are taking place. But the men and women I worked with and I know the people that get up every day and put the badge on, they are super empathetic, and that's why they sign up.
Certainly, they don't do it for the money. And so the empathy and just what Governor Waltz said there, they want to do the very best job that they can to impact the maximum justice that can be had in this situation.
ABEL: Former FBI special agent Jason Pack, thank you very much.
PACK: Thank you.
ABEL: Ahead, casualties are mounting now on both sides as Iran and Israel widen attacks. After the break, a report from Tel Aviv following multiple strikes there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:30:00]
ABEL: Major breaking news also in Israel where at least four people have been killed and dozens injured in the latest round of missile strikes launched by Iran. Israel's National Emergency Service says multiple locations were hit Monday morning.
CNN crews captured this video here as strikes were heard around the Tel Aviv area along with warning sirens. Central Israel's power grid also damaged in the latest of the back and forth strikes over the weekend. And here is what we know.
Iran's state affiliated news agency confirmed an Israeli strike in Tehran on Sunday resulted in the deaths of two high ranking officials, the Intelligence Chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard and his deputy general. At least 224 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes since Friday according to Iran's Ministry of Health. Israeli officials say at least 18 people have been killed there since Iran's retaliation began.
The IDF targeted multiple weapons production sites in Iran on Sunday, including a site that produces navigation and missile systems. One that makes fuel for various types of missiles and another that produces missile engines. Israel's Military Chief of Staff says strikes will only get more intense from here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. EYAL ZAMIR, CHIEF OF STAFF, ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCES (via translator): We will continue to intensify our operations and in doing so strengthen our security for years to come. Defending our home front is a critical component of this campaign. As I told you from the beginning, there will be difficult moments. We are in the midst of a challenge unlike those we have faced in the past. We knew there would be a price, and it underscores why we act now before it became too late.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: Iran is responding in turn with its own strikes aimed at Israel. Iran's president says their response will escalate threatening more innocent lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MASOUD PEZESHKIAN, IRANIAN President (via translator): Israel knows no boundaries. They intrude wherever they want with permission from America. We are by no means seeking to expand the war, but naturally, as our army, our powerful IRGC, and our dear people have shown appropriate responses have been given so far.
The more they try to escalate, naturally the responses will become tougher and more severe. More innocent people may lose their lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: Jeremy Diamond was at the scene of one missile strike in Tel Aviv and filed this report just a short while ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: I'm at the site of an Iranian ballistic missile attack in Central Tel Aviv. This ballistic missile struck this area in the early hours of this morning, severely damaging three residential buildings right behind me.
As you can see in this whole street is littered with debris as rescue crews move in and out, still trying to assess the damage to find anybody who might be trapped under the rubble, and also to get people out of their apartments.
There are also folks who have arrived here to try and get back inside to get some of their belongings and to make sure that their loved ones are OK. This is one of four ballistic missile, attack sites in Central Tel Aviv alone.
In addition, there was a ballistic missile attack in Northern Israel in Haifa as well. More than 70 people, were injured in these attacks according to Magen David Adom, Israel's National Rescue Services. And, of course, we are seeing that these attacks are continuing to escalate, and concern is rising here in Israel about the number of casualties and how many more may come.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABEL: And our other major breaking news, the suspected killer of a Minnesota state representative is caught. What officials are saying just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:35:00]
ABEL: Quick update on the breaking news from Minnesota where the manhunt for a suspected assassin is now over. Authorities have caught 57-year-old Vance Boelter, the suspect, in the fatal shooting of a state representative and her husband.
He's also been linked to a separate shooting that left a state senator and his wife wounded. Police say Boelter crawled to law enforcement when the search teams closed in on him. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and other officials speaking just a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): After two day manhunt, two sleepless night law enforcement have apprehended, Vance Boelter. That's 48 hours that law enforcement involved in a complex and dangerous manhunt. Spent Father's Day away from their families to deliver justice for Melissa and Mark Hortman and their children who spent this Father's Day alone.
To the law enforcement who stand here and the hundreds who are involved in this, the State of Minnesota owes you a deep gratitude. Thank you. You ran towards the danger and you served the State of Minnesota. This is a great example of coordination and collaboration. Multiple agencies, federal, state, and local, coordinating together in a way to protect the public and close this hunt around.
Multiple agencies were there as FBI laid hands on it and Minnesota State Patrol put the handcuffs on. One man's unthinkable actions have altered the State of Minnesota. Melissa Hortman was the core of who our values were. She had a hand in so many things that happened. The building that we stand in, she helped to usher through so that we could respond from the state emergency operation center with the professionalism and giving the tools necessary to law enforcement to do their job.
To Melissa and Mark's family, I cannot fathom your pain and the grief that you're going through. We'll take solace in the memory and the work that Melissa did, and you can rest assured that we will put every ounce of effort that the State of Minnesota has to make sure that justice is served and the individual responsible for this serves the time for the unspeakable act. State grieves with you.
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The latest news is Senator Hoffman came out of final surgery and is moving towards that -- towards recovery. Yvette is healing. And I think when the story comes out, and I'd like to say on behalf of the State of Minnesota, the heroic actions by the Hoffman family and their daughter Hope saved countless lives, and we are grateful. Bureau of Criminal Apprehension will continue to investigate. We will keep you informed. We'll spare no expense and no work to make sure that that happens. A moment in this country where we watch violence erupt, this cannot be the norm. It cannot be the way that we deal with our political differences.
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ABEL: Steve Moore is a CNN Law Enforcement Contributor and retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent joining me from Los Angeles. And, Steve, you and I, before that press conference, were going back and forth, dissecting that image, speculating about how the suspect could have been brought into custody. Now we have more information. What's your takeaway now that that press conference is finished?
STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it appeared to be just good police work. Somebody found the vehicle in a rural area, the law enforcement was deployed. FBI SWAT is highly trained in getting into rural wooded areas and searching. And it appears that they were able to locate him be in a position where they could call him out. They said he crawled out. That usually means the FBI or whoever it is saying, get on your hands and knees and come out towards us.
So it was, I think, a coordination between several law enforcement agencies, state, local, and federal, and I think it worked out very well.
ABEL: Over these 33 hours or so, it was estimated in that press conference that the largest manhunt in Minnesota history was conducted. There was a lot of incriminating evidence, at least it seems, from outside of the prosecution and us not being a jury, it seems incriminating. What do you think that investigators will find moving forward now?
MOORE: Well, you know, after a plane crash, you're always looking for the black box, you know, because that will tell you the things that happened right before the crash. In law enforcement, what we're looking for are things that, kind of a black box that will tell us what was going on in the mind of the killer, beforehand.
And this is usually his social media, his writings, his communications with others. So they're going to try to crack this black box open -- the legal black box and find out what was motivating him to go through this. So that's the next step. And then that's going to go obviously towards prosecution.
ABEL: Does anybody else around the suspect, if they knew anything, is there any culpability there?
MOORE: Yeah. Yeah. There is. And that's part of this dissecting what happened. Many times there are people who didn't even know what he was doing beforehand but assisted afterwards. That's an accessory after the fact. There are potentially, people who are simply accessories and then accessories after the fact.
And that's one of the things that occupies the investigators' time after this is determining, is this the only guy we're going to prosecute, or are we going to go after people who knew about this and did nothing about it or worse assisted him either in the act or in the escape?
ABEL: Steve, we see, at least in school shootings and some other incidents, there's this idea of copycats of potentially other lone wolves, people wanting to pick up this torch of violence. Is there that possibility here in this in this case?
MOORE: Brian, yeah, there is a possibility of this. But in this case, it's a little bit better, believe it or not. What we in school shootings and these horrible mass shootings, is these people tend to want to end their own lives. They don't want law enforcement to have that privilege to end their lives.
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When you get a guy like this who is captured alive, it actually kind of puts a chill into those who would otherwise think that this was a success. I mean, I -- and please understand when I say success, I'm using it in a macabre way. So him being captured actually reduces the possibility that anybody would try this again.
It doesn't eliminate it. Certainly, there are people who are just looking for something, but I believe this it was a negative inference for them.
ABEL: All right. Steve Moore, appreciate your expertise as always. Thank you.
MOORE: Thank you. Still to come for us, casualties are mounting on both sides as Iran and Israel continue launching attacks against one another.
After the break, CNN's Clarissa Ward reports from an Israeli town where four women were killed. That's next.
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ABEL: A day of death and destruction in Tel Aviv and Tehran due to the conflict between Israel and Iran. Four people were killed in Israel according to emergency workers after a barrage of missiles fell in multiple sites around Tel Aviv overnight.
Residential areas were among the locations hit, explosions, and fire seen. And CNN correspondent saw one residential building that partially collapsed. It comes after Israel carried out a series of strikes on Iran on Sunday.
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Iran's state affiliated news agency confirmed that two high ranking officials were killed, the Intelligence Chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard and his deputy. At least 224 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes since Friday according to Iranian authorities.
Even before these last strikes, we learned four women from the same family in Tamra, Israel were killed when an Iranian missile hit their home. CNN's Clarissa Ward reports from the site of the strike. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Four members of the Khatib family were killed in this strike on their family home. A mother, two of her daughters, the youngest just 13, and a relative who was visiting. You can see the scale of the destruction as a result of the impact of that missile hitting, and it really extends down the block.
And in many ways, this strike, it really gets to not just the tragedy of this conflict, but also the complexity. This town, Tamra, is a Palestinian Israeli town, and there was social media video online last night verified by CNN that showed people from a neighboring town actually cheering as they saw those missiles coming down onto Tamra. They could be heard rejoicing, may your village burn. And it's important to mention as well that we've also seen videos on social media of Palestinians cheering as missiles rained down near the city of Tel Aviv.
We spoke to a priest, Father Khoury, who told us that he believes innocent people are losing their lives because of the actions of bad leaders.
FATHER SIMON KHOURY, TAMRA PRIEST: We want all of them to sit on the same table and to sit like brother, sons of Abraham, and to say it's enough because violence cause violence and blood cause blood. It's easy to know how to start wars, but only God knows how it's going to finish.
WARD (voice over): Shortly after we finished talking to Father Khoury the sirens went off again, and we were ushered into a shelter in the house across from the Khatib family home. And the woman who lives in that house, who witnessed and lived through what happened last night, visibly shaken, crying, trembling, deeply fearful for her life.
WARD (on camera): The all clear has been given. People are getting back to the work of cleaning up, and it's going to be a big job.
Clarissa Ward, CNN, Tamra, Israel.
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ABEL: Elsewhere in Israel, an Iranian missile strike hit a residential building in Bat Yam Sunday, killing several people and injuring dozens of others. CNN's Nic Robertson shows us the aftermath of that attack.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice over): An Iranian missile, this fireball, its deadly impact. It's 02:55 a.m. Minutes later, rescue crews scrambling to save lives. Dozens injured, some trapped under the rubble, others dead.
Daybreak revealing destruction beyond recent memory. A civilian apartment building sheared off. Homes opened like tin cans, lives disgorged atop a mountain of crushed concrete and twisted rebar, rescuers crowding forward, listening for any signs of life.
ROBERTSON (on camera): Just listen. Everything's gone quiet, and that's because those rescuers there, they're shouting into the rubble. They're shouting to people they believe are still trapped. If you're there, send us a sign, that's what they're saying.
It's eight hours after this Iranian missile strike on this civilian building, and there's a huge effort now to find the people that are unaccounted for that they believe are trapped. This is a race against time. If they're injured, the clock is ticking, and this is a desperate move here right now.
ROBERTSON (voice over): Hours later, heavy lift equipment brought in. Officials saying three people known to be trapped, four missing. Twelve hours now since the strikes, lives potentially still to be saved. Almost 100 injured. The death toll likely to climb, but according to the police, it could have been worse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's honestly a miracle, but it's due to the fact that the public is listening to the instructions to find protected shelter to stay there. And, we all pray for a peaceful and quick end to this.
ROBERTSON (voice over): Israel's Prime Minister, President, and Defense Minister who all came to see the vast scale of destruction gave no hint an end is in sight, the reverse even, ramping up their rhetoric.
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ISRAEL KATZ, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (via translator): No one will bring us down on our knees. We will hurt the snake's head and we'll peel off the snake's skin, and we'll target the nuclear facilities. We'll target the aerial defense systems. We'll target the missiles. We'll target the regime.
ROBERTSON (voice over): Destruction here ripping through an entire city block. Hundreds forced from homes, not all of them as forward leaning as their leaders. This man salvaging what he could.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I think it's the governments and the people that are in power that really want the war to go -- to continue. We have hostages. We don't want this war. We didn't start this war. We want it to end, but -- Israel has been in war since the beginning, so we're going to be all right.
ROBERTSON (voice over): This neighborhood unlikely to be the last ripped up according to Israeli officials in the Prime Minister's Office. More than one in 10 Iranian missiles getting through Israel's defenses. Nick Robertson, CNN, Central Israel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABEL: Thank you for joining us. I'm Brian Abel in Atlanta. We are back with more news in just a few moments.
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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Hello. Wherever you are in the world, you are now in the CNN newsroom with me, Ben Hunte, in Atlanta. And we're beginning with breaking news in Minnesota when a 57 year old suspect in the killing of a state lawmaker has been caught.
