The man sought by authorities for allegedly shooting Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota on Saturday while impersonating a police officer worked for a security company that advertised a fleet of “police type vehicles,” and other equipment that could potentially have aided him in appearing to be law enforcement.
Vance Boelter was also an outspoken evangelical Christian who traveled to Africa to share his faith story and, in at least one sermon, openly questioned American morals regarding sexual orientation, according to videos and social media posts reviewed by News Fresh.
Now, a massive manhunt is ongoing to catch Boelter, 57, who authorities say is a suspect in killing one lawmaker and her husband and wounding another and his wife, leaving behind an apparent hit list with dozens of names in his car after exchanging fire with police outside the home of one victim and fleeing the scene. Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, said the attack “appears to be a politically motivated assassination.”
State officials said that early on Saturday, authorities encountered what appeared to be a police vehicle with emergency flashing lights in the driveway of Rep. Melissa Hortman’s home, and what appeared to be an officer at the door coming out of the house. That individual immediately fired a weapon at them and was able to escape.
Hortman – the top Democrat in the Minnesota House – and her husband were both killed. At a nearby home, Minnesota State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were also shot but are in stable condition after surgery.
Police said they are still investigating a motive for the attacks. The names on the list, which NewsFresh obtained, are largely Democrats or figures with ties to Planned Parenthood or the abortion rights movement. The list included prominent lawmakers like Rep. Ilhan Omar and Sen. Tina Smith as well as Planned Parenthood leaders. Police said Boelter also had fliers for anti-Trump protests in his car, raising fears that he may also have intended to target those rallies.
Boelter largely shied away from political posts in his publicly available social media feeds and did not discuss abortion rights in any religious speeches reviewed by News Fresh. In one talk he gave in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2023, he appeared sharply critical of LGBTQ rights.
"There are people, especially in America, who don't know what gender they are, they don't know their sexual orientation, they're confused. The enemy has gotten so far into their mind and their soul," he said in a sermon at a Pentecostal church in the eastern DRC.
Those who knew Boelter from his church work said they were stunned that he was linked to the violence on Saturday.
Pastor McNay Nkashama, who said he knew Boelter as a volunteer who preached Christianity, said he was struggling to reconcile the allegations with the man he knew.
Of all the people I know, he would not hurt a fly," Nkashama said in a brief telephone interview. "I just cannot believe it.
Boelter served on a state board with Hoffman, records show. In 2019, Walz appointed Boelter to the Governor’s Workforce Development Board – a group of business owners who recommend policies to the state government. In a letter, Walz said the appointment was in recognition of Boelter’s “integrity, judgment, and ability.”
According to a spokesperson for the governor, the development board, which has more than 60 members, is one of many external boards and commissions whose members are unpaid and come from “all parties.” The spokesperson said the governor does not interview applicants to the boards.
It's unclear how closely Boelter and Hoffman interacted in that role, if at all.
We are still exploring that," Drew Evans, the superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said at a news conference on Saturday afternoon regarding whether Boelter had direct knowledge of the victims. "There is certainly some overlap with some public meetings involving Senator Hoffman and the individual, but we do not know the nature of their relationship or if they actually knew each other.
Boelter has worked as director of security patrols for Praetorian Guard Security Services, which provides "random armed patrols" of customers' properties, according to the company's webpage – which also suggests he could have had access to uniforms and equipment that could aid in impersonating a police officer.
The firm was registered to Boelter’s home address and listed a woman who is apparently his wife as president and CEO; she did not respond to messages from News Fresh.
The site advertised that the firm had “police-type vehicles” and noted, “We drive the same make and model of vehicles that many police departments use in the U.S. Currently we drive Ford Explorer Utility Vehicles.”
The firm's website boasted that Boelter had experience in foreign conflict zones. It stated that he was "involved with security situations in Eastern Europe, Africa, North America, and the Middle East, including the West Bank, Southern Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip."
Video from outside Hortman's home on Saturday showed law enforcement towing a black Ford Explorer equipped with police lights. Archived photos from a home previously owned by Boelter show a similar vehicle in the driveway.
In speeches reviewed by News Fresh, Boelter described his deep faith and said he was born again into the church as a teenager.
"I met Jesus when I was 17 years old and I gave my life to him," Boelter told the church in the DRC in February 2023. . “ And I just wanted to tell everybody about Jesus.
Records also show that Boelter once launched a Christian nonprofit called Revoformation Ministries. An archived website under that name includes a biography of him, describing Boelter as having traveled extensively to preach Christianity, including in the Middle East, where the site says he had sought out “militant Islamists in order to share the gospel and tell them that violence wasn’t the answer.”
That website described Boelter as a reverend and an author, noting that he had written a book that presents a "different paradigm on the nature of man and our relationship with God."
News Freshreviewed numerous videos of Boelter preaching in the DRC from 2021 to 2023. Boelter appears emotional when describing his religious devotion. He also frequently talked about his connection to the DRC and what he perceived as the suffering the country has endured due to decades of internal conflict and meddling of other countries.
"I've been to North and South America, I've been to the Middle East, I've been to Eastern Europe, and I've been in the DRC. I've never been in a country before like the DRC that has had so much taken away. I hear the history, and it hits my heart. So many people, so many countries have taken, taken, taken," he said in 2022.
Boelter said he worked at major food brands such as Nestlé, and was the general manager of a 7-Eleven, according to an online resume.
Boelter registered to vote as a Republican in the early 2000s, according to state records. In a LinkedIn post six years ago, Boelter encouraged people to vote and wrote, “I think the election is going to have more of an impact on the direction of our country than probably any election we have been part of, or will be part of for years to come.”
A state document that listed his 2019 appointment to a development board noting he had “no party preference.”
Boelter's LinkedIn page claims he holds a doctorate in educational leadership and a master of science in management, both from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee. He used the prefix Dr. on his website and social media. Social media posts also indicate that he has multiple children.
A search of Minnesota criminal records showed no cases against Boelter aside from some traffic charges.
Boelter had a property outside the small town of Green Isle, about 50 miles west of Minneapolis, according to records. A sheriff’s deputy was blocking a gravel road leading to the home on Saturday afternoon. In the town’s restaurants and bars, no one who spoke to News Fresh knew Boelter or his family.
News Fresh’s Majlie de Puy Kamp and Bob Ortega contributed to this report.
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