Minnesota Shooting Suspect and Wife Were ‘Preppers,' FBI Affidavit Says

Hours after a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband were fatally shot in their home, Vance Boelter, the man charged by authorities with the killing, texted his wife instructions to prepare for the worst, according to an affidavit unsealed on Friday.
Boelter had sent a message in their family group chat stating 'something to the effect of they should prepare for war, they needed to get out of the house and people with guns may be showing up to the house,' FBI agent Terry Getsch wrote in the affidavit. Getsch added that Boelter and his family were 'preppers' – people who go to extreme lengths to prepare for catastrophic events that could require survival skills and stockpiles of supplies.
Boelter's wife, Jenny, shared this information with authorities on the morning of June 14 after she was stopped by police in Onamia, a small town about 90 miles north of Minneapolis, according to the affidavit. Jenny Boelter, driving with her four children, was pulled over as authorities were carrying out the largest manhunt in Minnesota's history for her husband. She allegedly told authorities that her husband had given her a 'bailout plan' to follow in an emergency, which involved driving to her mother's residence in Spring Brook, Wisconsin.
In her vehicle, police said, they found a safe, the family's passports, around $10,000 in cash and two weapons – a revolver in the glove box and a semiautomatic pistol in a cooler.
Earlier that day, state Rep. Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband, Mark, were shot and killed in their home just north of Minneapolis. Another lawmaker, state Sen. John Hoffman (D), and his wife, Yvette, were also shot at home, and seriously injured. Authorities say the killings were part of a 'calculated plan to inflict fear and violence upon Minnesota elected officials and their families.'
Boelter is believed to have started preparing for the rampage nearly five days earlier, according to officials, who also say that he stalked his victims by collecting addresses and information about their families.
Over several hours on June 14, Getsch wrote in the affidavit, Boelter visited the homes of multiple members of the state's legislature in a 'spree of violence,' intending to kill, injure, intimidate or harass them. Costumed as a law enforcement officer, he knocked on Hoffman's door first at 2 a.m. on Saturday, the affidavit said. After the lawmaker and his wife opened the door, Boelter allegedly shot them multiple times before fleeing. He went to two more homes before reaching the Hortman residence, the affidavit said.
After being challenged by police officers responding to the Hortman home, Boelter fled through the house's back door, sparking a 40-hour search. On Sunday, a neighbor of Boelter's in Green Isle, Minnesota, spotted him while visiting another neighbor's house, alerting law enforcement to the area. Boelter soon surrendered.
People in the community who knew the Boelters have been struggling to reconcile the neighbor they knew with the man authorities say tried to rampage and kill Minnesota politicians. He declared himself a born-again Christian at age 17, and based on his recent online activity, an expert said his views appeared to align with those of the political 'far right' of American Christianity. Boelter spent most of his career in the food industry, but he had hoped to launch a security business. His family spent time at the public pool or at Bible study, according to neighbors.
Many preppers never have been linked to violence – a popular National Geographic show called 'Doomsday Preppers' depicted colorful characters going to extremes to build backyard bunkers and stockpile food. The movement takes many forms, from Pinterest boards to individuals who advocate for preparedness to meet man-made or natural disasters that could create instability for years.
Sometimes the movement intersects with extremism, and Boelter is not the only suspect of a high-profile killing for whom law enforcement has alleged such a connection. Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, often read survivalist magazines. State police also linked Eric Frein, responsible for the 2014 killing of a Pennsylvania state trooper, to the movement. And in 2000, three survivalists killed a police officer in a small Colorado town, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

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