MINNEAPOLIS—The suspect in the shooting of Minnesota lawmakers On Saturday, he was feeling down and unhappy with his work situation, but showed no signs that he could turn violent, his self-described best friend and part-time roommate said.
Police identified the man, who remained at large Saturday, as 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter. Authorities said he impersonated a police officer to gain access to the suburban Minneapolis home of state Rep. Melissa Hortman, a 55-year-old Democratic leader and former speaker of the Minnesota House. She and her husband, Mark, were fatally shot.
Boelter is also a suspect in the shooting of state Sen. John Hoffman, 60, and his wife, Yvette, at their home in a suburb further north.
Boelter had built a scattered career that included food companies, retailing, and pastoring, according to public records and his online posts. He has been living with his wife in a rural area outside the Twin Cities and stays a few nights a week at a rental home in a working-class Minneapolis neighborhood with a couple of roommates.
Boelter was working overnight shifts for an organization that handles eye donations, said one roommate, David Carlson, and was trying to get a security company off the ground.
On Friday night, Boelter parked his prowler-style vehicle from his security business at the house and went to his room, Carlson recalled. Carlson knocked on the door, but Boelter said he was tired, so Carlson left him alone, reasoning that he was sometimes on call for the eye-donation firm and might have to be up in the middle of the night.
Carlson woke up on Saturday to a troubling text. Boelter said he was "going to be gone for a while" and "may be dead shortly," according to local media reports, which Carlson confirmed. The text prompted him to call the police.
I thought he was going to do self-harm," Carlson said. "I didn’t think he was going to do anything like this.
Carlson said Boelter voted for President Trump and was against abortion, considering it murder. But Carlson never thought his views were especially out of the mainstream.
Trying to identify Boelter’s political leanings is challenging, based on available public records. People don’t declare a party when they register to vote in Minnesota.
Authorities said they found a list in the suspect’s vehicle that included other public officials. The suspect’s possible target list named prominent abortion-rights supporters in Minnesota, including Democratic lawmakers who have been outspoken on the issue, according to an official familiar with the document.
Online posts portray Boelter as a devout Christian and pastor who preached at LaBorne Matadi, a church in the Congo, according to photos on the church’s Facebook page. An archived website for his ministry described his global travels to preach, stating, “He sought out militant Islamists in order to share the gospel and tell them that violence wasn’t the answer.”
Carlson said he had quit most of his jobs before his last trip to Africa and was struggling to build back a solid income. A website for Praetorian Guard Security Services lists Boelter as part of the leadership and advertises armed residential security and personnel who drive police-style vehicles. "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 site says. Law enforcement said a black police cruiser was seen at the lawmakers' homes. Nobody answered the company’s phone line on Saturday.
State records confirm Boelter’s previous appointments to the Governor’s Workforce Development Board, initially under Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and subsequently by the current Democratic Governor Tim Walz. Governors appoint thousands of individuals from various parties to boards and commissions established by the Legislature for unpaid positions. This specific board comprises around 60 people, including representatives from business, education, unions, and community groups from both Republican and Democratic backgrounds. Boelter is listed as having “no party preference” on his board profile. The office of Governor Walz stated that they had no familiarity with the suspect.
On Saturday, authorities descended on Boelter’s Minneapolis home, breaking down doors and smashing windows. Police set up checkpoints to cordon off a large area surrounding his other residence in rural Green Isle, a town of 663 people about an hour west of the Twin Cities. A helicopter buzzed overhead, and a TV crew reported from a gravel road.
According to the defunct website for his ministry, Boelter was raised in the small Minnesota town of Sleepy Eye, studied at a Bible college in Dallas, and holds a master’s degree in management.
Posts from Boelter’s LinkedIn account show that he traveled regularly to the Congo. He and his wife, Jenny, have five children, according to a recorded 2021 sermon in which he says, “I met Jesus when I was 17 years old, and I gave my life to him.” The sermon was posted on the church’s YouTube channel. Boelter’s wife didn’t respond to phone messages Saturday.
Boelter also spoke about the difficulties he encountered after a friend was allegedly killed alongside other Christian missionaries in Africa.
"If those people who killed them had known Jesus, they would not have done that," he said during one sermon. The experience brought him closer to God and inspired him to start his own ministry, he said. It is called Revoformation Ministries, according to state public records.
Boelter's bio on the website for Praetorian Guard Security Services portrays him as having vast security experience: "Dr. Vance Boelter has been involved with security situations in Eastern Europe, Africa, North America, and the Middle East, including the West Bank, Southern Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip."
Boelter and his wife also operated a dog business, Praetorian Shilohs, a Shiloh shepherd breeding enterprise. According to its website, the couple ventured into the business after years of seeking “the best breed of Shepherds in the world.” The site indicated that litters were anticipated in early spring and winter.
Authorities said they were still exploring whether Boelter was acquainted with the lawmakers targeted Saturday. There was "some overlap with public meetings" with Hoffman, said Drew Evans, superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. "But we don’t know the nature of the relationship or if they actually knew each other." Hoffman is on the Governor’s Workforce Development Board, according to a roster.
I don't know what his beef was with these two people, but he never talked about them," Carlson said. "I don't even know who they were.
Write to Joe Barrett at Joseph.Barrett@wsj.com Brenna T. Smith brenna.smith@wsj.com and John McCormick at mccormick.john@wsj.com
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