Accused assassin clarifies that President Trump, pro-life views did not motivate shootings

The suspected Minnesota assassin Vance Boelter says neither his pro-life worldview nor his support for President Donald J. Trump were motivations behind the deadly June 14 shooting rampage that left a top Democratic lawmaker dead and another seriously wounded.

In a series of texts and video visits with the New York Post, the suspect wasn’t specific on his motivation for the predawn shooting of four people, but he clarified that it wasn’t what many people seem to believe.

‘I’ll let you chew on that one.’

“You are fishing and I can’t talk about my case. … I’ll say it didn’t involve either the Trump stuff or pro life,” Boelter wrote from inside the Sherburne County Jail in Elk River, Minn., according to the Post.

“I am pro-life personaly [sic] but it wasn’t those,” Boelter, 57, wrote via the jail’s messaging system, the Post reported. “I will just say there is a lot of information that will come out in future that people will look at and judge for themselves that goes back 24 months before the 14th. If the gov ever let’s [sic] it get out.”

Boelter faces a possible federal grand jury indictment this week after being charged with six felony stalking and murder-related counts in the killing of Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, and the serious wounding of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman. Boelter has also been charged with murder and attempted murder in Hennepin County District Court.

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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

His comments to the Post were Boelter’s first extensive public statements since the shooting spree led to the largest manhunt in Minnesota history on June 14 and 15. The case is one of the most bizarre in modern history. Boelter is accused of dressing like a police officer, wearing a “hyper-realistic” face and head mask, and driving a vehicle fully outfitted to look like a police cruiser during the crime spree.

During two 20-minute video visits with the Post, Boelter said police have withheld key details from a handwritten letter left by the “alleged person” in a getaway car found in Sibley County, Minn., on June 15. The letter, which has not been released, was addressed to FBI Director Kash Patel.

‘My wife and family had nothing to do with any of this.’

“Certain details of that letter were leaked out that probably painted one kind of a picture, but a lot more important details that were in that letter were not leaked out,” Boelter said, according to the newspaper. He refused to elaborate, saying the withheld details related to “things that were going on in Minnesota.”

“I also made sure when I was arrested that they secured that letter — I made the request that they secure that letter before it gets destroyed — because I was concerned somebody would destroy it,” said Boelter, wearing a yellow jail-issued jumpsuit and a goatee, the Post said.

The FBI found the letter in a Buick sedan that agents said Boelter bought with cash from a man he met at a bus stop in north Minneapolis about four hours after the Hortman shootings.

Police earlier found handwritten notes in the suspect's fake police SUV with a hit list of more than 50 Democrat officials from at least six states. Police found other notes with directions to the Hortman home and a list of websites used to gather information on the targets of the rampage.

Asked by the Post how he felt about the shooting victims and their families, Boelter gave a cryptic response referring to his faith.

“You can maybe ask … if somebody believes that, and they love God and that they love their neighbor … allegedly, how could they be involved in a situation where some people are no longer here that were here before?” he said, according to the Post. “I’ll let you chew on that one.”

RELATED: Accused assassin makes ‘disgusting’ attempt to paint himself a victim over jail conditions: Sheriff

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a June 15, 2025, news conference about alleged shooter Vance Boelter. Photo by Christopher Mark Juhn/Anadolu via Getty Images.

Boelter reiterated statements made by his wife, Jennifer Lynne Boelter, that his family had nothing to do with the shootings.

“I talked to my wife for two minutes shortly after my arrest, and then the call was cut off,” Boelter told the Post. “Nothing since then. My wife and family had nothing to do with any of this. They were all shocked like others.”

In a statement released by a law firm on June 26, Jennifer Boelter said she was “shocked, heartbroken, and completely blindsided” by the rampage.

“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.”

When police caught up with Jennifer Boelter near Onamia, Minn., on June 14, the vehicle she was driving contained about $10,000 in cash, passports, handguns, and ammunition, the FBI said. She shared text messages with officers from her husband to the family that said in part, “Dad went to war last night.” Jennifer Boelter has not been charged in the case.

The letter left behind for the FBI also allegedly said Boelter claimed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) told him to murder U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and others so he could run for U.S. Senate, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported. The letter allegedly said Boelter had been trained by U.S. military.

In his comments to the Post, Boelter would not discuss his views or relationship with Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in the 2024 election. Walz appointed Boelter to a four-year term on the Governor’s Workforce Development Board in December 2019. Democrat Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton appointed Boelter to a similarly named board in 2016.

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