What motivated suspect in Minnesota lawmaker shooting is unclear, so are his politics

Gov. Tim Walz has condemned the assassination of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband as politically motivated, but questions remain about the suspect’s political affiliation. 

The Democrat Minnesota governor immediately denounced what he said “appears to be a politically motivated assassination,” following the attacks Saturday morning.

Vance Luther Boelter, 57, is charged with killing Hortman and her husband, Mark, and shooting state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, in separate incidents early Saturday morning.

Lawmakers from Minnesota and across the United States have since joined Walz in condemning the violent attacks. Politicians and authorities have been clear that Saturday’s attack was politically motivated, but they have been less clear about the suspect’s political preferences.

MINNESOTA LAWMAKER SHOOTING SUSPECT HAD CACHE OF WEAPONS, HIT LIST IN VEHICLE, COURT DOCUMENTS SHOW

U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson said Monday that Boelter’s primary motive was “to go out and murder people” as authorities announced the suspect’s capture on Monday after a two-day manhunt. 

“Now, they were all elected officials,” Thompson said. “They were all Democrats. Beyond that, I think it’s just way too speculative for anyone that has reviewed these materials to know and to say what was motivating him in terms of ideology or specific issues.”

MINN. GOV THANKS LAW ENFORCEMENT FOR BRINGING HOUSE SPEAKER’S ALLEGED KILLER TO JUSTICE AFTER TWO-DAY MANHUNT

Boelter now faces federal charges after officials arrested him in Sibley County on Sunday night. He is charged with two counts of stalking, two counts of murder and two counts of firearm-related crimes. Boelter is also facing second-degree murder charges filed in Hennepin County. 

“Political violence has no place in this country,” Alvin M. Winston, FBI Minneapolis special agent, said during a press conference on Monday. 

While Thompson said it was too early to identify specific political motivation, he said, “This was a political assassination.”

“It’s only the most recent example of violent political extremism in this country,” Thompson added, in light of two assassination attempts on President Donald Trump last year, the attack on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband at their home in San Francisco in 2022, and the shooting of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., at the annual Congressional Baseball Game in 2017, to name a few.

Records reveal Boelter registered to vote as a Republican while living in Oklahoma in 2004 before moving to Minnesota, where voters don’t list party affiliation.

Boelter was previously appointed to Minnesota’s Workforce Development Board by two governors, according to Fox 9. 

The suspect was reportedly appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, in 2016, and then re-appointed by Walz in 2019 as a private sector representative to the council. He previously served on the same board as Hoffman before his term expired in 2023.

Friends and former colleagues interviewed by the Associated Press described Boelter as a devout Christian who attended an evangelical church and attended Trump rallies. 

Paul Shroeder, who has known Boelter for years, told AP, “He was right-leaning politically but never fanatical, from what I saw, just strong beliefs,” and added, “It seemed to be just that he was a conservative Republican who naturally followed Trump.”

A Fox News search found no results for individual contributions to federally registered political committees. 

According to Boelter’s LinkedIn page, he has a purported extensive security background, including as CEO of Red Lion Group based in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is also listed as the director of Praetorian Guard Security Services, a security firm his wife reportedly filed to create, according to the company’s website. 

Several AK-47-style firearms were recovered from Boelter’s vehicle during the investigation, along with a pile of “No Kings” flyers, reflecting anti-Trump administration protests that erupted across the country this weekend. 

Walz had planned to speak at a “No Kings” rally in St. Paul on Saturday before the assassination. 

Authorities also found a manifesto that listed the names and addresses of other public officials. About 70 names were found in the manifesto, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Officials said the list also included the names of pro-abortion politicians, abortion rights advocates and information about health care facilities.

“There were some abortion-rights supporters, I believe, on the list. But again, there was dozens and dozens and dozens of names on, you know, hundreds of pages of documents that were recovered with his writings on them,” Thompson said. 

Boelter’s roommate told the New York Post that he had conservative political views but rarely talked about politics and didn’t seem overtly political.

“He was a Trump supporter. He voted for Trump. He liked Trump. I like Trump,” his lifelong friend, David Carlson, said. “He didn’t like abortion.”

Carlson told the New York Times that Boelter had been experiencing financial and mental health challenges, and that Bolter “just gave up on life for some reason.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, Carlson woke up on Saturday to a text from Boelter that he was “going to be gone for a while” and “may be dead shortly.” 

“I thought he was going to do self-harm,” Carlson said. “I didn’t think he was going to do anything like this.” 

Walz continued to denounce the violence during a press conference Monday. 

“A moment in this country where we watched violence erupt. This cannot be the norm. It cannot be the way that we deal with our political differences.”

And Walz added in a statement that we “cannot become numb to this violence,” adding we are a “deeply divided nation.”

Walz’s office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital inquiry. 

Fox News Digital’s Stephen Sorace, Michael Dorgan, Julia Bonavita, Audrey Conklin, Peter D’Abrosca and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.