Who is Vance Boelter, suspect in the assassination of Rep. Melissa Hortman?

After Vance Boelter allegedly carried out one of the most shocking acts of political violence in state history, he texted his lifelong friends and roommates in Minneapolis.

“I love you guys, I made some choices,” Boelter wrote. “I’m going to be gone for a while. May be dead shortly.”

Boelter, 57, from Green Isle, Minn., has been identified as the main suspect in the killings of Minnesota House DFL leader Melissa Hortman and her husband, and the attempted slayings of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife.

He is now at the center of a manhunt. As hundreds of law enforcement officials try to track him down, his history in Minnesota is coming to light.

Online profiles, news clips and interviews with neighbors and friends show that Boelter had built an eclectic career weaving from food service to international religious missionary work, local political appointments and working at funeral homes. He was also intimately familiar with politics and public safety in Minnesota.

Police say he impersonated a police officer, showing up in tactical gear, before he shot his victims.

Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said at a news conference that Boelter was armed and dangerous.

The FBI announced a reward of up to $50,000 leading to Boelter’s arrest and conviction, and included photos of him wearing what appears to be a mask as he approaches one of the homes.

Police executed a search warrant Saturday afternoon at a home at 4830 Fremont Av. N. in Minneapolis that one of Boelter’s roommates, who asked not to be identified, said he rented for the past two years. He typically slept there one or two nights a week so he could be closer to work.

Police broke down the door and windows mid-afternoon, and Boelter’s roommates were in a state of shock as they swept broken glass from the front of the house. Remaining pieces of the door frame and track marks from an armored vehicle were covering the lawn.

One of the roommates, 59-year-old David Carlson, said he had been friends with Boelter for about 50 years, dating back to fourth grade. He and another friend got a text at 6:17 a.m., which Carlson read aloud to reporters.

Carlson sobbed and paused in the middle before reading the next sentence: “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.”

Carlson said he called the police after finding the text.

Calls by reporters to several of Boelter’s family members resulted in hangups, with no comment.

Boelter carried a manifesto that listed “prominent pro-choice individuals in Minnesota, including many Democratic lawmakers,” sources familiar with the investigation said.

Authorities were investigating whether Boelter knew Hoffman or Hortman.

Boelter graduated from St. Cloud State University in 1996 with a degree in elective studies, focusing on international relations. He was appointed to the Governor’s Workforce Development Board in 2019, according to a news release by Gov. Tim Walz’s office that year. Hoffman served several stints on the board, including from 2018 to 2023, according to the Secretary of State’s website. Boelter was also appointed to the Dakota-Scott Workforce Development Board in 2021.

Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said that there is “certainly some overlap with some public meetings” between Hoffman and Boelter, but that law enforcement didn’t know anything about their relationship or if they knew each other.

Boelter served as general manager for a major food distributor based in Shakopee and represented the convenience store chain Marathon Petroleum Corp.

Those were just part of his unusual career path.

An online video from two years ago appears to show Boelter preaching to a congregation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he says, “I met Jesus when I was 17 years old, and I gave my life to him,” adding that he and his wife have four daughters and a son.

In a self-made resume-style video posted to social media, Boelter spelled out his work in the funeral home industry and a food supply business project in Africa. He said he works six days a week, splitting his time with Wulf Funeral Home and Metro First Call.

“Fun fact about myself,” he continued, “I’ve been in the food industry for about 30 years, and that led to an opportunity. I was invited to the Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa. … I was asked a couple years ago to go and see what I can do on ideas for their food supply system.”

Tim Koch, owner of Metro First Call, said Boelter worked for his funeral services company from August 2023 to February 2025, when he “voluntarily left.” Koch declined to say more other than expressing his condolences to the Hortman and Hoffman families.

Boelter was also director of security patrols at Praetorian Guard Security Services, a residential armed home security company. His wife, Jenny, was its president.

According to its website, the company offers armed security with guards wearing personal protective equipment and driving “the same make and model of vehicles that many police departments use.”

In his biography, Boelter describes himself as Dr. Vance Boelter, who “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.”

Law enforcement officials said that when they arrived at Hortman’s home, a dark SUV with police lights was in the driveway and a man dressed like a police officer opened fire on Brooklyn Park police officers.

According to his roommate, Boelter had bought the squad cars because he was interested in starting a security company.

“He was just the nicest guy,” Carlson said. “I mean, I can’t believe this has all happened.”

On Friday night, Carlson recalled, Boelter said that he loved him.

“He paid for four months of rent in advance, and said I was his best friend, and that he loves me,” Carlson said. “I thanked him for that, our friendship and everything.”

Green Isle, a town of about 600, is a farming area about 55 miles southwest of Minneapolis. Boelter’s house is off a gravel road about 5 miles from town.

Sibley County Sheriff Pat Nienaber had numerous area law enforcement and ambulances at a staging area in a ballfield in Green Isle. Nienaber said the department has had a few contacts with Boelter in the past, but all were “very minor “

Farmer Kevin Effertz lives about a mile from Boelter and used to snowblow and cut hay for him at his home.

Effertz said Boelter and his wife bought the house a couple of years ago and “he worked in the city someplace,” so he was gone a lot.

Effertz saw Boelter about a week ago in his yard, and they talked about how it was too wet to cut hay.

“He was always friendly… you could joke with him. We never talked about politics. Just the weather and how his farm was doing.”

Boelter told him he went to Africa on his own dime to teach people new farming techniques because so many people were starving there.

“If he was helping them people I don’t know why he would do this,” Effertz said.

When he heard Boelter was a suspect, Effertz said: “That can’t be the same Vance.”

“I would have never expected anything like this,” he said.

Deena Winter, Chloe Johnson and Walker Orenstein of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this report.