What We Know About the Suspect in the Minnesota Lawmakers Shootings

The man suspected of shooting two Democratic state lawmakers in Minnesota early on Saturday had served on a state board with one of the victims, records show.

The suspect identified by the authorities, Vance Boelter, 57, was appointed several times by Minnesota governors to the Workforce Development Board, where he served with State Senator John A. Hoffman, who was shot and survived.

Mr. Boelter and Senator Hoffman attended a virtual meeting together in 2022 for a discussion about the job market in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, minutes from the meeting show.

Drew Evans, the superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said investigators did not yet know how well the two knew each other, if at all.

Mr. Boelter was appointed to the board in 2016 by Mark Dayton, a Democrat who was then the governor. More recently, he was appointed by Gov. Tim Walz, also a Democrat. The board has 41 members who are appointed by the governor, and its goal is to improve business development in the state.

A state report in 2016 listed Mr. Boelter’s political affiliation as “none or other,” and another report in 2020 listed him as having “no party preference.” Voters do not declare political affiliation when they register in Minnesota.

The police have said that the suspect in the attacks disguised himself as a police officer and went to the homes of two state lawmakers in the Minneapolis suburbs. He shot and wounded Senator Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, and fatally shot State Representative Melissa Hortman, and her husband, Mark. He remains on the run.

U.S. Senator Tina Smith, Democrat of Minnesota, said in an interview that the gunman had a list that included her name and the names of other lawmakers, all of whom were Democrats. The list included about 70 potential targets, a federal law enforcement official said, including doctors, community and business leaders, and locations for Planned Parenthood and other health care centers. Some of the targets were in neighboring states.

David Carlson lives at an address in Minneapolis where the police executed a search warrant for Mr. Boelter and said he has been one of his best friends since fourth grade. Mr. Boelter’s listed address is in Green Isle, Minn., about an hour’s drive away. Mr. Carlson said that Mr. Boelter also rented a room in the same home as him, and stayed there several days a week.

Mr. Boelter worked at a funeral home, owned guns and had voted for President Trump last year, he said.

Mr. Carlson read a text message that he had received from Mr. Boelter early on Saturday morning, in which he wrote that he might be dead soon. The message did not describe any details of the attacks, Mr. Carlson said.

On Friday, Mr. Boelter had given Mr. Carlson four months’ worth of advance rent payments — which was about $220 a month — for a small room in the shared house. He had said he needed some rest and so Mr. Carlson left him alone.

Mr. Carlson said Mr. Boelter is a Christian who strongly opposed abortion. He had never mentioned either of the lawmakers who were shot, Mr. Carlson said, and had generally avoided talking about politics. He said Mr. Boelter had been experiencing financial and mental health challenges.

Mr. Boelter and his wife run a private security company in Minnesota, according to its website. The company, Praetorian Guard Security Services, lists Mr. Boelter as the director of security patrols and his wife as the president. The firm’s website describes using Ford Explorer S.U.V.s, “the same make and model of vehicles that many police departments use.”

On Saturday afternoon, the police towed a Ford Explorer from outside Representative Hortman’s home.

The firm says it offers only armed security. “If you are looking for unarmed guards, please work with another service to meet your needs better,” the website says.

Mr. Boelter’s public professional history is varied.

State reports and his LinkedIn profile indicate that he was recently a general manager of a 7-Eleven in Minneapolis and, before that, had worked as the general manager of a gas station in St. Paul. A report in 2017 listed him as an executive at an energy company.

More recently, he had said on LinkedIn that he was the chief executive of a company called Red Lion Group, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, dedicated to creating “good jobs for local people,” according to its website.

Mr. Boelter has delivered several sermons at a church in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In a video of one that was posted online, he appeared to criticize gay and transgender people.

“There’s people, especially in America, they don’t know what sex they are,” he said. “They don’t know their sexual orientation, they’re confused. The enemy has gotten so far into their mind and their soul.”

In the sermon, he said he had given his life to Jesus as a teenager and had been blessed with five children.

In a video posted online, Mr. Boelter said he had picked up work at funeral homes to help pay his bills.

It was not clear when the video was uploaded, but Mr. Boelter said he worked six days a week for two funeral homes in the Minneapolis area. At one, he said, he sometimes helped to remove bodies from crime scenes and would work with police officers and death investigators.

The website for Mr. Boelter’s security company makes expansive claims about his work experience, which could not immediately be verified, including that he had been “involved with security situations” in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and that he had worked for “the largest U.S. oil refining company, the world’s largest food company based in Switzerland and the world’s largest convenience retailer based in Japan.”

I.R.S. tax forms show that Mr. Boelter and his wife once led a Christian nonprofit called Revoformation Ministries. An archived version of the group’s website described Mr. Boelter as becoming an ordained minister in 1993.

Mr. Boelter, the site said, had traveled previously to violent areas “in the Gaza Strip and West Bank,” the site said, and had “sought out militant Islamists in order to share the gospel and tell them that violence wasn’t the answer.”

In November 2018, Mr. Boelter urged his followers on LinkedIn to vote in that year’s election, saying he had been to countries where people could not elect their leaders and that were “not places that anyone of us would want to live in.”

“I am very big on just telling people to be a part of the process and vote your values,” he wrote, “and be part of this adventure we are all a part of living in the United States of America.”

“I think the election is going to have more of an impact on the direction of our country than probably any election we have been apart of, or will be apart of for years to come,” he continued.

One of the victims on Saturday’s attacks, Ms. Hortman, ran successfully for re-election that year.

Julie Bosman, Adam Goldman, Bernard Mokam and Jay Senter contributed reporting. Jack Begg and Kitty Bennett contributed research.