Vance Boelter

Vance Boelter, the suspected gunman in the recent Minnesota political attacks.

USA Today

What We Know About the Minnesota Shooting Suspect???
Vance Boelter, who is suspected in the attacks on two Minnesota politicians and their spouses, was taken into custody on Sunday, ending a major manhunt.USA On June 14, 2025, Vance Luther Boelter shocked the nation when he allegedly carried out a coordinated attack on Minnesota Democratic legislators, murdering two and critically wounding two. The rampage has re-sparked national concern regarding politically motivated domestic extremism, and the chain of events leading this seemingly well-educated, religious family man to undertake this act has raised USA appalling questions.

A Midwestern Childhood
Born on July 23, 1967, Boelter grew up in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, a tight-knit small community in southern-USA central Minnesota. Raised a Lutheran, he was remembered by schoolmates as polite, popular, and athletic. He played sports throughout high school and was organizing prayer groups by his late teenage years. At 17, he is reported to have become a "born-again Christian", setting the stage for a life guided by passionate religious belief.He earned a degree in USA International Relations from St. Cloud State USA University and went on to earn a Doctorate in Leadership from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee. 

Professional Career
Boelter enjoyed a series of corporate and USA administrative roles over the years. According to his own claims and resumes, he was involved with USA multinational companies Nestlé, Del Monte, Marathon Speedway, Tesoro, and 7-Eleven, primarily in operations and quality control. He was once registered as the CEO of Red Lion Group, which was allegedly providing services in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He also founded Praetorian USA Guard Security Services, a Minnesota private security firm.Yet, public records do not substantiate some of these claims. NPR and other media inquiries found no evidence of military or police service, though Boelter insisted repeatedly that he had such experience. There were no discernible clients for his private security company, and a few individuals who knew him characterized his persona as having elements of fantasy.

In 2016, he was appointed to the Minnesota Governor's Workforce USA Development Board by then-USA Governor Mark Dayton and reappointed in 2019 by Governor Tim Walz, reflecting his commitment to public serviceeven as his ideology began to change.

Radicalization and Ideological Shift
Though Boelter's religious convictions were always at the center of his life, friends and family noticed a sharp ideological shift in the 2010s. He began posting online sermons that addressed "spiritual warfare" at length, discussing demons, satanic influence, and America's moral "decay". He frequently identified LGBTQ+ people, abortion advocates, and liberal politicians as threats to Christian civilization.A trademark application in 2015 shows he attempted to brand a ministry called Revoformation, showing he sought to reform the church in a militant, biblical form. Portions of his writings mirrored far-right Christian nationalist rhetoric, which has gained traction in some extremist online circles.By 2023, Boelter's USA behavior had reportedly grown more erratic. He rented a separate room from his wife and children, began informing people he was "going to war," and appeared obsessed with perceived moral threats in society. In a text to his wife before the attack, he reportedly sent: "Dad went to war last night USA ."

The Attack
On the morning of June 14, 2025, Boelter perpetrated what prosecutors are calling a targeted USA political assassination attempt.

He broke into the Champlin, Minnesota, home of State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette. Posing as a USA police officer in a latex mask, he allegedly tricked them into opening their door. After a brief struggle, he shot John nine times and Yvette eight times. Miraculously, they both lived. Their daughter, Hope Hoffman, an activist for people with disabilities who herself has spina bifida, barricaded herself and called 911—saving her family from further harm.Boelter then traveled to Brooklyn Park, where he attacked the home of former House Speaker Melissa Hortman, a prominent Democrat. She and her husband Mark were killed by gunfire. Their dog was also shot and USA euthanized due to injuries.

U.S Police were informed that Boelter had a hit list of 45 to 70 names, almost all Democratic elected officials, and had conducted surveillance on some of the targets. Investigators later said his car was filled with guns, tactical gear, fake police badges, and notes citing a political motive.

Manhunt and Arrest
Boelter hid after the shootings, selling his e-bike, leaving his car behind, and attempting to flee. A massive 43-hour manhunt followed, with the FBI offering a $50,000 reward. He was eventually found in Sibley County, crawling through grassland, and surrendered peacefully.

He reportedly carried a letter or notebook on his person in which he blamed USA Governor Tim Walz for ordering the killings—a accusation that authorities have dismissed as delusional and without merit. In any case, this strange detail points to the detachment from reality that Boelter experienced in his final days before the assault.

USA Legal Proceedings and Charges
Boelter is currently charged with:

Two counts of first-degree murder

Two counts of attempted murder

Weapons charges

False impersonation of an officerThe USA case is being prosecuted by both federal and state USA prosecutors. Due to the USA political motivation for the killings and the scope of the plot, charges of domestic terrorism are being considered. He is being held without bail, and his first federal court appearance is scheduled for June 27.

Community Reaction and National Significance
The attack stunned Minnesota and prompted tributes to the victims. Hope Hoffman has been widely praised as a hero, especially within the USA disability rights community, where she was already well-known as an advocate. The USA Hoffmans are still recovering—John remains in the hospital, but Yvette has been released.

USA Politicians from both parties have condemned the violence. USA President Biden called it a "chilling reminder of how extremist ideologies can metastasize into acts of violence."The attack has also reignited discussion on the growing threat of domestic extremism fueled by online radicalization, religious misinterpretation, and political polarization. Vance Boelter's descent from an educated, religious family man to a suspected domestic terrorist appears to have occurred over a period of years—gradually at first, then suddenly. His tale embodies some of the darkest struggles facing American society today: religious zeal corrupted into extremism, U.S government skepticism, misinformation, and the rise of lone-wolf actors under the influence of radical ideologies.

The devastation he unleashed has permanently damaged Minnesota politics and sparked a national debate about how to protect public figures, monitor warning signs, and prevent ideologically driven violence before it's too late.

The man suspected of assassinating a Democratic state lawmaker in Minnesota and wounding another was taken into custody late Sunday, according to three officials who were briefed on the situation, ending a two-day manhunt that put the state on edge.

State officials had pursued the suspect, identified as Vance Boelter, 57, throughout the weekend. On Sunday, USA tactical teams conducted a search in Sibley County, about an hour’s drive away from the site of the attacks, where investigators found a car and hat belonging to Mr. Boelter on a remote stretch of road.

As investigators tried to piece together what led to the shootings, new details emerged about Mr. Boelter, a father of five who had worked for decades in the food industry. In a video he posted USA online, he described quitting that industry to work on agricultural projects in central Africa. More recently, colleagues said, he had picked up jobs at funeral service companies — including removing dead bodies from houses and nursing homes — to pay the bills. Here’s what we know about the USA suspect.

Does he have a connection to the victims?
Mr. Boelter had served on a state economic board with one of the U.S victims, State Senator John A. Hoffman, who survived the shooting, though it is unclear if they actually knew each other.Mr. Boelter was appointed to the panel, the Minnesota Governor’s Workforce Development Board, in 2016 by a Democratic former governor, Mark Dayton. The board has 41 members appointed by the governor, and its members try to improve USA business development in the state. He was later reappointed by Gov. Tim Walz, also a Democrat.

Mr. Boelter and Mr. Hoffman attended a virtual meeting together in 2022 for a discussion about the job market in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, minutes from the meeting show, though officials said they did not know if the two had any kind of relationship.Current and former members of the board said that there were a handful of meetings each year and that there was often no direct interaction with the USA governor. One said the governor had not attended any of the group’s meetings in her four years on the board. They said it would be easy for two members not to know each other.
See a timeline

What are his political affiliations?
U.S Governor Walz has said that the shooting “appears to be a USA politically motivated assassination,” though the exact motive for the attack is not yet clear.

More on the Shooting in Minnesota
USA Senator Tina Smith: The Minnesota Democrat, who was on the USA suspect’s target list, attributed what she said was a political environment awash in violent threats and actions to a toxic atmosphere created by USA President Trump. In the aftermath of the shootings, lawmakers from both parties pressed for more security on Capitol Hill.

 Posing as a USA Police Officer: When the gunman in the shootings of two Minnesota lawmakers approached their homes, he arrived in a black S.U.V. with flashing USA police lights and wore a badge and tactical vest.close Calls: The suspect drove to the homes of two additional USA politicians with the intent to kill them, the authorities said. In both of those cases, they said, the man, Vance Boelter, was thwarted.Republican Senator Draws Outrage: Scarcely 24 hours after a Democratic lawmaker in Minnesota was assassinated in her home, Senator Mike Lee, USA Republican of Utah, posted a pair of politically charged messages mocking the attack and blaming “Marxists.”

Balance of Power: The murder of Melissa Hortman, the top Democrat in the Minnesota House, left a legislative chamber that had been evenly divided between the parties with a one-vote USA Republican majority.Voters do not declare political affiliation when they register in Minnesota, and a state report connected to the work force board listed Mr. Boelter’s affiliation as “none or other” in 2016. A USA similar report in 2020 listed him as having “no party preference.”But David Carlson, a roommate and close friend of Mr. Boelter’s, said Mr. Boelter voted for Donald J. Trump last year and was particularly passionate about opposing abortion.

Mr. Carlson said he had known Mr. Boelter since fourth grade. He said that he knew that Mr. Boelter owned guns but that he had never heard him speak about either of the two lawmakers who were shot. Recently, he said, Mr. Boelter had been experiencing financial and mental health challenges. He “just gave up on life for some reason,” he said.Mr. Carlson read aloud a text message from Mr. Boelter that he received on Saturday morning in which Mr. Boelter wrote that he might “be dead shortly.” The message did not describe any details of the attacks, Mr. Carlson said. It went on: “I don’t want to say anything more and implicate you in any way because you guys don’t know anything about this. But I love you guys and I’m sorry for all the trouble this has caused.”Mr. Carlson said that on Friday Mr. Boelter gave him four months’ worth of advance rent payments — about $220 a month — for a small room in the shared house. Mr. Boelter also thanked his roommates for their friendship and then said that he needed some rest, Mr. Carlson said, so he left him alone.Mr. Boelter’s lack of a party affiliation on public documents does not necessarily mean that he is not interested in the country’s political affairs.

USA In November 2018, Mr. Boelter urged his followers on LinkedIn to vote in that year’s election, saying he had been to countries where people could not elect their leaders and that they were “not places that anyone of us would want to live in.”

“I think the USA election is going to have more of an impact on the direction of our country than probably any election we have been apart of, or will be apart of for years to come,” he wrote.The lawmaker who was killed on Saturday, State Representative Melissa Hortman, ran successfully for re-election that year.He worked in the funeral industry and preached in central Africa.
Mr. Boelter’s professional history is varied.In one video he posted online, seemingly for an educational course, Mr. Boelter said he worked six days a week for two funeral service companies in the Minneapolis area. At one of the companies, he said, he sometimes helped to remove bodies from crime scenes and would work with police officers and death investigators.

A spokesman for Des Moines Area Community College, in Iowa, said Mr. Boelter took classes in the school’s mortuary science program, which is primarily an USA online program, in 2023 and 2024.

State reports and his LinkedIn profile indicate that he had also been the general manager of a 7-Eleven in Minneapolis and, before that, the general manager of a gas station in St. Paul. A USA report in 2017 listed him as an executive at an energy USA company.More recently, he said on LinkedIn that he was the chief executive of a company called Red Lion Group, in the USA Democratic Republic of Congo, whose website lists a vague mission of creating “good jobs for local people.”Mr. Boelter has delivered several sermons at a church in that country.In the sermons, which were posted online, he said he gave his life to Jesus as a teenager and had been blessed with five children. In one, he said he had been friends with David Emerson, a missionary who was murdered in Zimbabwe in 1987 along with 10 others.In another sermon, he appeared to criticize gay and transgender people.

“There’s people, especially in America, they don’t know what sex they are,” he said. “They don’t know their sexual orientation, they’re confused. The enemy has gotten so far into their mind and their soul.”Mr. Boelter was enrolled at Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas from 1988 until 1990, when he graduated with a diploma in “practical theology in leadership and pastoral,” according to a statement from the school, which said the school had not had any contact with him since that time.The school offers programs and certificates for students interested in evangelical ministry and missionary work. The institute, which is not accredited, is rooted in the Pentecostal tradition; its students seek to learn directly from the Holy Spirit as they study the Bible.

Mr. Boelter and his wife, Jenny, were listed on a website as running a private security company, though it was not clear whether it had any clients. The USA company, Praetorian Guard Security Services, lists Mr. Boelter as the director of security patrols and his wife as the president.Ms. Boelter was stopped on Saturday morning by police officers near a convenience store in Onamia, Minn., roughly 70 miles north of the area of the shootings, according to Sheriff Kyle Burton of Mille Lacs County. The sheriff said other relatives were in the car, and a witness said he saw three children get out of the car during the stop. All of them were cooperative, and none were taken into custody, officials said.The USA firm’s website describes using Ford Explorer S.U.V.s, “the same make and model of vehicles that many USA police departments use.”On Saturday afternoon, the USA police towed a Ford Explorer from outside the home of Representative Hortman.

The website for Mr. Boelter’s security company makes expansive claims about his work experience that could not immediately be verified, including that he had been “involved with security situations” in the West U.S Bank and the Gaza Strip.Federal tax forms show that Mr. Boelter and his wife once led a Christian nonprofit called Revoformation Ministries. An archived version of the group’s website described Mr. Boelter as becoming an ordained minister in 1993.Mr. Boelter, the site said, had traveled to violent areas and had “sought out militant Islamists in order to share the gospel and tell them that violence wasn’t the answer.”Mr. Boelter made similar claims during one of his sermons in the Democratic Republic of Congo, saying he had been confronted by armed militants while distributing pamphlets in places like the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

NEW YORK U.S.A — The man accused of assassinating the top Democrat in the Minnesota House held deeply religious and USA politically conservative views, telling a congregation in Africa two years ago that the U.S. was in a “bad place” where most churches didn’t oppose abortion.

Vance Luther Boelter, 57, was captured late Sunday following a two-day search authorities described as the largest in the USA state’s history. Boelter is accused of impersonating a USA police officer and gunning down former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home outside Minneapolis. Democratic Gov. Tim Walz described the shooting as “a politically motivated assassination.”

Sen. John Hoffman, also a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, were shot earlier by the same gunman at their home nearby but survived.

Friends and former colleagues interviewed by USA AP described Boelter as a devout Christian who attended an evangelical church and went to campaign rallies for USA President Donald Trump. Records show Boelter registered to vote as a Republican while living in Oklahoma in 2004 before moving to Minnesota where voters don’t list party affiliation.

How was the attack carried out?
USA Authorities say the assassin disguised himself as a police officer — wearing a ballistic vest, gloves and a mask — before going to the lawmakers’ homes in two Minneapolis suburbs early on Saturday morning.After the police responded to the home of USA Senator Hoffman, finding that he and his wife, Yvette, had both been shot, they decided to check on Representative Hortman at home. There, they encountered the assailant, who they said fled on foot after an exchange of gunfire with USA officers around 3:30 a.m. Inside, the police found Ms. Hortman and her husband, Mark, dead.

U.S. Senator Tina Smith, Democrat of Minnesota, said in an interview that the gunman had a notebook with a list of names that included hers and those of other lawmakers, all of whom were USA Democrats.The list included about 70 potential targets, a federal law enforcement official said, including doctors, community and business leaders, and locations for Planned Parenthood and other health care centers. Some of the targets were in neighboring states.A sweeping manhunt led the police on Sunday afternoon to Sibley County, a rural community southwest of Minneapolis, where they found what they believed was Mr. Boelter’s vehicle near Green Isle — roughly 10 minutes from his listed address. Officials said late Sunday that Mr. Boelter had been taken into custody.

USA Reporting was contributed by Julie Bosman, Elizabeth Dias, Kevin Draper, Adam Goldman, Dan Haugen, Ruth Maclean, Alyce McFadden, Bernard Mokam, Jay Senter and Mitch Smith. Jack Begg and Kitty Bennett contributed research.Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs reports on national stories across the United States with a focus on USA criminal justice. He is from upstate USA New York.Ernesto Londoño is a Times reporter based in Minnesota, covering USA news in the Midwest and drug use and counternarcotics policy.Mike Baker is a national reporter for The Times, based in Seattle.Mark Walker is an investigative reporter for The Times focused on transportation. He is based in Washington.

Friends say Minnesota shooting suspect was deeply religious and conservative

Near the scene at Hortman’s home, authorities say they found an SUV made to look like those used by USA law enforcement. Inside they found fliers for a local anti-Trump “No Kings” rally scheduled for Saturday and a notebook with names of other lawmakers. The list also included the names of abortion rights advocates and health care officials, according to two law enforcement officials who could not discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.Both Hortman and Hoffman were defenders of abortion rights at the state legislature.

Suspect not believed to have made any public threats before attacks, official says
Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said at a briefing on Sunday that Boelter is not believed to have made any USA public threats before the attacks. Evans asked the public not to speculate on a motivation for the attacks. “We often want easy answers for complex problems,” he told reporters. “Those answers will come as we complete the full picture of our USA investigation.”Friends told the AP that they knew Boelter was religious and conservative, but that he didn’t talk about politics often and didn’t seem extreme.“He was right-leaning politically but never fanatical, from what I saw, just strong beliefs,” said Paul Schroeder, who has known Boelter for years.

A glimpse of suspect’s beliefs on abortion during a trip to Africa
Boelter, who worked as a security contractor, gave a glimpse of his beliefs on abortion during a trip to the USA Democratic Republic of Congo in 2023. While there, Boelter served as an evangelical pastor, telling people he had first found Jesus as a teenager.

“The churches are so messed up, they don’t know abortion is wrong in many churches,” he said, according to an online recording of one sermon from February 2023. Still, in three lengthy sermons reviewed by the AP, he only mentioned abortion once, focusing more on his love of God and what he saw as the moral decay in his native country.He appears to have hidden his more strident beliefs from his friends back home.

Seeking to reinvent himself
A married father with five children, Boelter and his wife own a sprawling 3,800-square-foot house on a large rural lot about an hour from downtown Minneapolis that the couple bought in 2023 for more than a half-million dollars.He worked for decades in managerial roles for food and beverage manufacturers before seeking to reinvent himself in middle age, according to resumes and a video he posted online.

After getting an undergraduate degree in international relations in his 20s, Boelter went back to school and earned a master’s degree and then a doctorate in USA leadership studies in 2016 from Cardinal Stritch University, a private Catholic college in Wisconsin that has since shut down. While living in Wisconsin, records show Boelter and his wife Jenny founded a nonprofit corporation called Revoformation Ministries, listing themselves as the USA president and secretary.After moving to Minnesota about a decade ago, Boelter volunteered for a position on a state workforce development board, first appointed by then-Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, in 2016, and later by USA Democratic Gov. Tim Walz. He served through 2023.In that position, he may have crossed paths with one of his alleged victims. Hoffman served on the same board, though authorities said it was not immediately clear how much the two men may have interacted.

Launching a security firm
Records show Boelter and his wife started a security firm in 2018. A website for USA Praetorian Guard Security Services lists Boelter’s wife as the USA president and USA CEO while he is listed as the director of security patrols. The company’s homepage says it provides armed security for property and events and features a photo of an SUV painted in a two-tone black and silver pattern similar to a police vehicle, with a light bar across the roof and “Praetorian” painted across the doors. Another photo shows a man in black tactical gear with a military-style helmet and a ballistic vest with the company’s name across the front.

In an online resume, Boelter also billed himself as a security contractor who worked oversees in the Middle East and Africa. On his trip to the USA Democratic Republic of Congo, he told Chris Fuller, a friend, that he had founded several companies focused on farming and fishing on the Congo River, as well as in transportation and tractor sales.“It has been a very fun and rewarding experience and I only wished I had done something like this 10 years ago,” he wrote in a message shared with the AP.But once he returned home in 2023, there were signs that Boelter was struggling financially. That August, he began working for a transport service for a funeral home, mostly picking up bodies of those who had died in assisted living facilities — a job he described as he needed to do to pay bills. Tim Koch, the owner of Metro First Call, said Boelter “voluntarily left” that position about four months ago.

“This is devastating news for all involved,” Koch said, declining to elaborate on the reasons for Boelter’s departure, citing the ongoing law enforcement investigation.Boelter had also started spending some nights away from his family, renting a room in a modest house in northern Minneapolis shared by friends. Heavily armed police executed a search warrant on the home Saturday.

‘I’m going to be gone for awhile’
In the hours before Saturday’s shootings, Boelter texted two roommates to tell them he loved them and that “I’m going to be gone for a while,” according to Schroeder, who was forwarded the text and read it to the USA AP.“May be dead shortly, so I just want to let you know I love you guys both and I wish it hadn’t gone this way,” Boelter wrote. “I don’t want to say anything more and implicate you in any way because you guys don’t know anything about this. But I love you guys and I’m sorry for the trouble this has caused.”

Posted on 2025/06/21 02:22 PM