Minnesota lawmaker shootings: What we know about Vance Boelter
Minnesota lawmaker shootings: Vance Boelter background
FOX 9's Mary McGuire looked into the background of Vance Boelter, the suspected shooter of two lawmakers and their spouses last Saturday morning.
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. (FOX 9) - Before he was accused of shooting two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses, Vance Boelter led a life that ranged from preaching in Africa to working for local funeral homes.
Vance Boelter, 57, is accused of impersonating a police officer before going on a shooting spree early Saturday morning, injuring state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette and killing state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark.
Between the shootings, Boelter allegedly visited the homes of Rep. Kristin Bahner in Maple Grove and Sen. Ann Rest in New Hope. Bahner was not home, and Boelter reportedly encountered a police officer while parked near Rest's residence.
While the motive behind Saturday’s attacks remains unclear, details about his life leading up to the events are emerging.
Looking at Vance Boelter’s background
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Boelter was reportedly attempting to establish a security company and delivering sermons in Africa prior to his incarceration.
He appears to have been significantly influenced by strong religious convictions, but his life had recently taken a turn with job changes, mounting financial stress, and a security company that wasn’t off the ground yet.
Boelter, while delivering sermons, said he experienced a religious conversion at a young age, handing out pamphlets in his hometown of Sleepy Eye, Minnesota.
He earned a pastoral degree from Christ for the Nations Bible School in Texas before returning to Minnesota, graduating from St. Cloud State in 1996. From there, he spent years in the food industry.
FOX 9 found a now-defunct website where Boelter talks about a religious book he is writing in 2006, saying he traveled to the Gaza Strip and West Bank to seek out militant Islamists in order to share the Gospel.
In recent years, he quit his full-time job, with his focus turning toward getting a security company off the ground and starting companies in Africa. His longtime friend David Carlson told FOX 9 on Saturday the company was still just an idea.
"That was just some fantasy… he would talk about it, but there was no movement on that part," said Carlson.
While working in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Boelter delivered sermons through a French translator, addressing topics such as abortion and transgender individuals to large crowds. But back home in Minnesota, he was removing bodies for local funeral homes to make ends meet.
He left the funeral home job in February, and a LinkedIn post shows he was attempting to re-enter the food industry in the month before he allegedly went on a shooting rampage.
Boelter remains in federal custody at the Sherburne County Jail and is scheduled to appear in court later this month.