A man named Vance Boelter allegedly shot and killed Melissa Hortman, a Democratic Minnesota state representative, and her husband Mark Hortman at their home at some point early Saturday morning while, according to law enforcement, impersonating a police officer. He also allegedly shot state senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette Hoffman at their home. They are alive, but remain in critical condition.

Law enforcement has said they found a manifesto and hit list in the alleged suspect’s car, which included politicians, abortion providers, and pro-abortion rights advocates. There were also allegedly fliers in his car for the “No Kings” protest against President Donald Trump, which took place in cities across the US on Saturday.

The 57-year-old, who has been identified as the suspected shooter by law enforcement, runs an armed security service with his wife, and has been affiliated with at least one evangelical organization, a ministry he has also run with his wife, according to a tax filing reviewed by WIRED. (His wife could not be immediately reached for comment.) According to public records and archived websites reviewed by WIRED, the suspect served for a time as the president of Revoformation Ministries. A version of the ministry’s website captured in 2011 carries a biography in which he is said to have been ordained in 1993.

According to an archived website for the ministry reviewed by WIRED, the suspected shooter’s missionary work took him to Gaza and the West Bank during the Second Intifada, where, the website states, he “sought out militant Islamists in order to share the gospel and tell them that violence wasn’t the answer.”

A later version of the site was designed, according to an archived copy, by Israeli web design firm J-Town. Charlie Kalech, CEO of J-Town, tells WIRED that the alleged suspect was, in his recollection, “clearly religious and evangelistic. He had lots of ideas to make the world a better place.” The suspect, whom Kalech said was “nothing but nice to me,” commissioned J-Town, Kalech recalled, because they’re Jerusalem-based, and he said he wanted to support Israel.

Over the previous several years, according to LinkedIn posts, he was also the CEO of Red Lion Group, which according to an archived copy of its website had aspirations in the oil refining, logging, and glass production sectors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In a 2023 sermon reviewed by WIRED and delivered by the alleged shooter in Matadi, a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo that is on the border with Angola, he preached against abortion and called for different Christian churches to become “one.”

“They don’t know abortion is wrong, many churches,” he said. “They don’t have the gifts flowing. God gives the body gifts. To keep balance. Because when the body starts moving in the wrong direction, when they’re one, and accepting the gifts, God will raise an apostle or prophet to correct their course.”

”God is going to raise up apostles and prophets in America,” he added, “to correct His church.”

In another sermon in Matadi that year, Boelter railed against the LGBTQ community. “There’s people, especially in America, they don’t know what sex they are. They don’t know their sexual orientation. They’re confused,” he said. “The enemy has gotten so far into their mind and their soul.”

A Facebook profile under the suspected shooter’s name was briefly viewed by WIRED before it was taken down. His profile had shown him “liking” several evangelical missionary organizations, as well as pages honoring Reinhard Bonnke, a German pentecostal evangelist known for missions in several African countries, and Smith Wigglesworth, a British evangelist who was influential in the pentecostal movement. He also “liked” the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal advocacy organization known for its hardline stances against abortion and LGBTQ rights.

“I’m in shock,” Nathalie Nkashama, one of the alleged shooter’s friends, tells WIRED. “My body’s shaking … I’m worried about him. This cannot be the person I know. I’m wondering what happened.”

“It’s more of like, holiness all the time in conversations,” she added, describing her interactions with him. “I wish we could talk to him. I’m worried about his wife, his family. They’re all nice people, very nice.”

The suspected shooter also appears to be the director of security patrols at Praetorian Guard Security Services, a security company run servicing the Minneapolis and St. Paul metro areas that he founded with his wife Jenny. The company, which also lists Todd Boelter, a former police officer and the alleged shooter’s cousin, as a security training manager advertises residential security patrols and uniformed security patrols. “We only offer armed security. If you are looking for unarmed guards, please work with another service to meet your needs better,” states the “red lines” section of the company’s website. The website also states that their “guards” wear the “best personal protective equipment money can buy.”

Officials say that the suspect in the shootings had an SUV kitted out with emergency lights, a badge, and a taser. Though it is not yet clear where the suspect obtained materials to allegedly impersonate a police officer, the Praetorian Guard Security Services website states that their guards “drive the same make and model of vehicles that many police departments use in the US. Currently we drive Ford Explorer Utility Vehicles.” According to photographs from the scene, the car towed away by law enforcement was a Ford.

The suspected shooter, according to his LinkedIn profile, is a veteran of the food industry, having worked for Johnsonville Sausage, Del Monte, and the Irish convenience food manufacturer Greencore; recently, he posted that he was looking to return to that sector. (The companies for which his profile says he worked did not immediately reply to requests for comment.)

His involvement in the food industry has also seemingly helped him build inroads to local government. In 2019, Minnesota governor Tim Walz appointed him to a Workforce Development Board in the capacity of a “business and industry representative.” He also served as chair on the Dakota-Scott Workforce Development Board for over a decade, but resigned last year, according to a post on LinkedIn.

Police officers in the Minneapolis suburb of Champlin say they were called at around 2 am to the residence of state senator Hoffman.

At 3:35 am, police officers in nearby Brooklyn Park went to proactively check on Hortman’s home. Police chief Mark Bruley said at a press conference that officers discovered an SUV appearing to resemble a squad police car with emergency lights parked in Hortman’s driveway. Officers then encountered the alleged suspect, who they said was dressed like a police officer, wearing a police vest and a badge, and was armed with a taser. He immediately fired on them and then retreated back into Hortman’s home. Officials believe he fled out the back of the residence. “No question if they were in this room you would assume they are a police officer,” Bruley said.

Hours later, the shooting suspect is still believed to be at large.

Hortman was first elected to Minnesota’s house of representatives in 2004. She served as speaker of the house from 2019 to 2025, finishing her term this year after the state house successfully passed legislation on abortion rights, voting rights, criminal justice reform, marijuana legalization, and more.

“Our state lost a great leader and I lost the dearest of friends,” Walz said in a press conference on Saturday. “Speaker Hortman was someone who served the people of Minnesota with grace, compassion, humor, and a sense of service. She was a formidable public servant, a fixture, and a giant in Minnesota. She woke up every day determined to make this state a better place. She is irreplaceable and will be missed by so many.”

Evy Kwong contributed reporting.