Last weekend on June 14 — the same day No Kings protests ignited across the country — a gunman carried out targeted shootings in Minnesota, killing Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman (DFL) and her husband, Mark, and wounding Democratic state Senator John Hoffman (DFL) and his wife, Yvette.
The suspect is Vance Luther Boelter, whose identity was first reported by Blaze Media’s Julio Rosas. Boelter, who allegedly disguised himself as a police officer to carry out the attacks, has been charged with six federal counts, including two counts of stalking, two counts of murder through use of a firearm, and two counts of firearms offenses. On the state level, he faces four felony counts: two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder.
However, it’s been nearly a week, and Boelter’s exact motive remains unclear. He was appointed to the Minnesota Governor’s Workforce Development Board by two Minnesota governors — first in 2016 by then-Governor Mark Dayton (D) and again in 2019 by Governor Tim Walz (D). The shootings took place on No Kings Day — a series of nationwide, mostly left-wing protests in the U.S. advocating against perceived authoritarianism in the Trump administration. Further, No Kings fliers were found in the suspect’s vehicle.
At first glance, he appears to be aligned with the Democrat Party. And yet he is accused of specifically targeting Democrat representatives. In fact, the list allegedly found in his vehicle supposedly named Democrat officials exclusively. Reports that Boelter was vehemently opposed to abortion further muddy the waters.
“People on the right and on the left, we want to put suspected killers in a box,” says Liz Wheeler. “We want to say, ‘That person’s left-wing; that’s the Democrats’ fault.’ The left wants to say, ‘That person’s a Trump supporter; it’s Trump’s fault.”’ But neither one of those approaches, she says, give us “a complete picture” of Boelter.
To get a better understanding of the complex character that is Vance Luther Boelter, Liz invited Blaze News managing editor Rob Eno to “The Liz Wheeler Show.”
“We know that he at one point in time had a security company of some sort with his wife, who it looks like he wasn’t living with,” says Eno. “He was living at this 57-year-old guy’s house, renting a room” and “[working] at a 7-Eleven supposedly.”
Boelter’s friend David Carlson indicated in multiple reports that Boelter was a hardcore “Trump supporter,” but Eno says “there’s no video” confirming this.
Liz then brings up a good point: Boelter’s alleged “manifesto” that was recovered from his vehicle has not been released to the public. “The only time that manifestos aren’t released,” she says, “is when it’s a left-wing ideologue who commits this violence and they don’t want all left-wingers to be smeared.”
“But then we have the acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota … Joe Thompson, who said that he hasn’t even seen a manifesto and that there isn’t one,” she adds.
“I don’t know what the guy’s motivation was,” says Eno, noting that it’s possible he thought his actions would “save children.”
But Liz sees a glaring contradiction: Boelter was “appointed by Governor Tim Walz” — one of the most progressive governors on abortion, which Boelter supposedly despises. But if Boelter is a secret Republican who wanted to get back at Democrats, why would he target Melissa Hortman, who had just recently “voted with Republicans to prevent taxpayer money from going to criminal illegal aliens?”
That makes him seem like “a Democrat that’s disgruntled,” says Liz. “I don’t think that he fits into a left versus right ideological box.”
To hear more of Boelter’s conflicting characteristics, watch the video above.
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The post Who is Vance Boelter — the enigma allegedly behind the deadly Minnesota attacks? appeared first on TheBlaze.
