The wife of the man charged with a June 14 shooting rampage that killed a top Democratic Minnesota lawmaker says she was “shocked, heartbroken, and completely blindsided” by the violence that led to the biggest manhunt in state history.
“This violence does not at all align with our beliefs as a family,” said Jennifer Boelter, 51, of Green Isle, Minn. “It is a betrayal of everything we hold true as tenets of our Christian faith. We are appalled and horrified by what occurred and our hearts are incredibly heavy for the victims of this unfathomable tragedy.”
‘Our condolences are with all who are grieving during this unimaginably difficult time.’
Her husband, Vance Luther Boelter, 57, is charged in federal court with the stalking and assassination of Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman; and the shooting of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman.
Jennifer Boelter released a statement Thursday through Halberg Criminal Defense, a law firm in Bloomington, Minn.
She said on the morning of June 14 as she was driving with her children, she received a call from law enforcement and “immediately drove to meet agents at a nearby gas station. We were not pulled over. We parked and waited until they arrived.”
After police arrived at the gas station near Onamia, Minn., she said, “We voluntarily agreed to meet with them, answer their questions, provide all items they requested, and cooperate with all searches.”
According to an FBI probable-cause affidavit filed in federal criminal court in St. Paul, police found $10,000 in cash, a weapon, ammunition, and passports in the Boelter vehicle.
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FBI agents stage in a neighborhood in Green Isle, Minn., on June 15, 2025. Law enforcement agencies were searching for Vance Boelter, a suspect in the killing of DFL state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman. Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
Jennifer Boelter allowed officers to access her phone, where they discovered a June 14 group text from her husband to the family in which Vance Boelter allegedly said, “Dad went to war last night. … I don’t want to say more because I don’t wanna implicate anybody.”
In a separate text to Jennifer Boelter, Vance Boelter wrote, “There’s gonna be some people coming to the house armed and trigger-happy and I don’t want you guys around,” the FBI said.
“On behalf of my children and myself, I want to express our deepest sympathies to the Hortman and Hoffman families,” Jennifer Boelter wrote. “Our condolences are with all who are grieving during this unimaginably difficult time, and we are praying daily for them.”
Vance Boelter faces six federal felony charges in the shooting rampage. He will also face state murder charges in Hennepin County, Minn.
The story of Vance Boelter took a strange turn, as the University of Minnesota revealed that he worked for about six months as a “recovery technician” removing eyeballs from corpses, Alpha News reported. Boelter worked doing tissue recovery from December 2024 through June 13, the day before the shootings. He started out being paid $20 per hour, a rate that increased to $30 after he received certification for the procedure, the news outlet said.
He had also worked doing body removals for two area funeral homes. Boelter worked for Metro First Call LLC “from August 28, 2023, until he voluntarily left on February 20, 2025,” company owner Tim Koch told Blaze News. He had a similar job at Wulff Funeral Homes for a little more than a year, leaving that job in October 2024, Alpha News reported. In an undated video posted online, Boelter said he worked about six days per week between the two employers.
Vance Boelter was on the run for more than 40 hours after the shootings. During the rampage, he was dressed as a police officer, wearing a realistic-looking silicone mask, and driving a Ford SUV painted like a police vehicle with an emergency light bar, the FBI said.
Just after 2 a.m. June 14, Boelter allegedly pounded on the front door of the Hoffman home in Champlin, Minn., then opened fire shortly after the door was opened, the FBI said. The Hoffmans were shot a total of 17 times. Their adult daughter, who had been shielded by her mother during the shooting, called 911.
RELATED: Religious leaders distance themselves from onetime Christian preacher accused of Minnesota assassinations
Image source: FBI
Boelter then allegedly visited the homes of two more Democratic state lawmakers in New Hope and Maple Grove, Minn. No one was home in Maple Grove. In New Hope, police rolled up toward a senator’s home and noticed the suspect’s fake police car parked a block away. An officer who pulled alongside could not get Boelter’s attention, but kept driving toward the senator’s home, wrongly thinking the fake police cruiser was real, the FBI said.
Boelter’s alleged final stop was at the Hortman home in Brooklyn Park. Police pulled up just as the suspect stood near the front door. He exchanged gunfire with police before forcing his way inside and gunning down the Hortmans and their golden retriever, police said. He escaped out the back door.
Boelter was arrested without incident at 9:15 p.m. June 15, about a mile from his Green Isle home.
In a letter left in a vehicle Boelter allegedly abandoned in Belle Plaine, Minn., during the manhunt, he said Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told him to kill U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) and others, Alpha News and the Minnesota Star Tribune reported. The letter allegedly said that Boelter had been trained by U.S. military.
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