Suspect Arrested in Boston Scientific Exec's Death

Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 2 MIN.

A man accused of shooting his former boyfriend and business partner at a gas station outside Minneapolis was arrested after a month on a run Thursday when a concerned citizen saw him peering at the drive-thru fast-food menu on foot, police said.

Lyle "Ty" Hoffman was arrested without incident near an Arby's restaurant in Shakopee after police were summoned to check a report of a suspicious man, Shakopee Police Chief Jeff Tate said in a statement.

Hoffman, 44, is charged with one count of intentional second-degree murder in the Aug. 11 shooting death of Kelly 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, including two around the Anoka County airport in Blaine and one around the Mystic Lake Casino south of Shakopee. He also was suspected of a bank robbery in the weeks following the shooting, at the TCF Bank in Blaine on Aug. 30.

Witnesses said Phillips had stopped at a gas station about two blocks from his office in Arden Hills when a BMW pulled in behind him. There was some yelling before the BMW driver shot Phillips three times, then got back into his car and sped off, witnesses said.

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 that their personal and business lives had grown 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.


by Jason St. Amand , National News Editor

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