By Tom Polansek, Joseph Tanfani, Ned Parker and David Shepardson
MINNEAPOLIS/NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The suspect in the deadly shooting of a Minnesota state lawmaker and wounding of another had links to evangelical ministries and said he was a security expert with experience in the Gaza Strip and Africa, according to his online postings and public records.
A manhunt was under way on Saturday for Vance Luther Boelter, 57, who police said is a suspect in the killing of Democratic Minnesota state legislator Melissa Hortman and her husband, and the shooting of State Senator John Hoffman and his wife.
Police said the suspect had been seen earlier on Saturday wearing a light colored cowboy hat, a dark colored long sleeved collared shirt or coat with a dark bag. The FBI offered a reward of up to $50,000 for information that could lead to his arrest.
David Carlson, 59, told Reuters that he has been sharing a house in Minneapolis with Boelter for a little more than a year and last saw him on Friday night. Then about 6 a.m. on Saturday, he received a text from Boelter.
“He said that he might be dead soon,” said Carlson, who called police.
Carlson, who has known Boelter since fourth grade, said Boelter worked for an eye donation center and stayed at the house because it was close to his job. Carlson said he feels betrayed by Boelter and heartbroken for the victims, adding: “His family has got to suffer through this.”
Boelter was appointed in 2016 to the Governor’s Workforce Development Board, state records show. The board “has a responsibility to advise the Governor on Minnesota’s workforce system,” according to its website.
POLITICAL ANGER?
Asked if Boelter knew the lawmakers, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said: “We are still exploring that.”
“There’s certainly some overlap with some public meetings, I will say, with Senator Hoffman and the individual. But we don’t know the nature of the relationship or if they actually knew each other,” he told reporters.
Boelter listed himself as having no political party preference. On a LinkedIn post six years ago, Boelter urged Americans to vote and value the process: “If you believe in prayer, please keep the United States in your prayers.”
Carlson said Boelter voted for Trump, was a Christian and did not like abortion, though he added that the pair had not talked about the issue for a long time, adding: “He wasn’t really angry about politics.”
In social media accounts, public records and websites reviewed by Reuters, Boelter described himself as a Christian minister, a security expert with experience in the Middle East and Africa, and a former employee of food service companies.
Boelter said he was the chief executive of an organization called the Red Lion Group, based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He and his wife, Jennifer, also ran a security service called Praetorian Guard Security Services LLC; Minnesota corporate records list her as a manager.
The company website says it offers only armed guard security services, and Boelter wrote that he had 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.” The claims could not be immediately verified.
Police were aware of reports that Boelter owned a security company, Evans said.
LOOKING FOR WORK
Boelter wrote on LinkedIn a month ago that he was looking for work: “Hi everyone! I’m looking to get back into the U.S. Food Industry and I’m pretty open to positions” in Texas, Minnesota, Florida and the Washington DC area.
Nonprofit tax filings show that Boelter and his wife ran a Christian ministry organization called Revoformation. The most recent filing, in 2010, lists Boelter as president.
On an archived version of the Revoformation web page from 2011, Boelter said he was ordained in 1993 as a minister, and had been raised in the small town of Sleepy Eye, about 100 miles southwest of Minneapolis.
In his biography on that site, Boelter claimed to have made trips to “violent areas in the Gaza Strip and West Bank where suicide bombings were taking place.”
“He sought out militant Islamists in order to share the gospel and tell them that violence wasn’t the answer,” the biography says. Boelter said he went to St. Cloud State University, the now-closed Cardinal Stritch University and the Christ for the Nations Institute, a Bible college in Dallas.
After firing at police on Saturday, the suspect abandoned a vehicle in which officers found a “manifesto” and a list of other legislators and officials, law enforcement officials said.
Evans said police were still exploring what could have been the motivation for the shootings, adding: “It would be premature for me at this point to really say exactly what the motivation might be from these writings.”
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said the shooting “appears to be a politically motivated assassination.”
(Editing by Michelle Nichols, Editing by Nick Zieminski)
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