Vance Boelter: What we know about alleged Minnesota assassin's ties to Middle East and Africa

Jun 15, 2025 11:39 AM IST

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Minnesota shooter Vance Luther Boelter’s online biographies show that he runs a security company and has ties to the Middle East and Africa.Vance Boelter’s ties to the Middle East and Africa

Minnesota shooter Vance Luther Boelter’s online biographies show that he runs a security company and has ties to the Middle East and Africa.

Minnesota shooter Vance Luther Boelter’s online biographies show that he runs a security company and has ties to the Middle East and Africa. On LinkedIn, Boelter lists himself as the CEO of the Red Lion Group, based in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Vance Boelter: What we know about alleged Minnesota assassin’s ties to Middle East and Africa (FBI via AP)

Boelter is on the loose and is being sought in connection to several shootings, including that of Sen. John Hoffman and his wife in their Champlin home early Saturday, June 14, leaving them seriously injured. He then went to former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortmon’s house, where he allegedly killed her and her husband, police sources told the New York Post.

Vance Boelter’s ties to the Middle East and Africa

Besides his association with the Red Lion Group, Boelter claimed to have worked with Minnesota Africans United too, an organization known for working with African immigrants in the state, according to a now-deleted biography on the group’s website. However, Minnesota Africans United told the New York Post that they never hired, paid, or contracted Boetler, and that he never served in the organization, neither in an official nor an unofficial capacity.

Boelter and his wife, Jenny, appear to head Praetorian Guard Security Services, a Minnesota-based company “here to set up security options and provide security services right to your doorstep and property to keep what you own safe and secure,” per its website. According to the website, Boelter has “been involved in security situations” in Eastern Europe, Africa, North America and the Middle East, “including the West Bank, Southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.”

Meanwhile, a video surfacing on Facebook shows Boelter speaking at a seminar held jointly by the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Minnesota Africans United and Global Minnesota. One video on Facebook shows Boelter participating as a keynote speaker in his capacity as CEO of Red Lion Group for the seminar in 2022. He conducted the call from Moanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo and spoke of the Red Lion Group’s ventures in the African nation.