MINNEAPOLIS — A man accused of fatally shooting his former boyfriend and business partner in suburban Minneapolis was arrested Thursday after a month on the run, when police responding to a suspicious person report found him on foot peering at a drive-thru menu in another suburb, police said.
Lyle “Ty” Hoffman was arrested without incident at an Arby’s restaurant in Shakopee, Minn., about 30 miles southwest from the Arden Hills gas station where Kelly Phillips was fatally shot on Aug. 11.
Hoffmann was found after police were summoned to check a report of a suspicious man, Shakopee Police Chief Jeff Tate said.
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The news you care about, reported on by the people who care about you.Hoffman, 44, is charged with one count of intentional second-degree murder in the death of Phillips, an attorney and a vice president for the medical device company Boston Scientific.
Hoffman had been the subject of several massive searches in the Minneapolis area in the weeks since the shooting, including two around the Anoka County airport in Blaine, about 10 miles north of Arden Hills, and one around the Mystic Lake Casino south of Shakopee. He also was suspected of a bank robbery on Aug. 30 at a TCF Bank in Blaine.
According to a witness, a BMW pulled into a gas station about two blocks from Phillips’ office and that its driver, after some yelling between the two men, shot Phillips three times, got back into the car and fled. The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office initially released a “wanted” poster saying Hoffman may have been evading capture by using Craigslist and dating apps, such as Grindr.
Phillips owned Lush nightclub, a gay bar in Minneapolis, that he opened with Hoffman in 2009. While Hoffman worked at the bar, Phillips’ involvement was primarily financial.
Friends and family have said the men’s personal and business lives had strained. Hoffman had been fired from the bar, and Phillips evicted him from a residence he owned across from the club. Phillips had also been preparing to marry another man.
A reward for Hoffman had been raised to $40,000 on Wednesday, just a day before his arrest.
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