The Minnesota man accused of shooting two state legislators and their spouses may have been driven by anti-abortion views shaped by some of the nation’s most radical and potentially violent Christian movements, educated observers say.
Vance Boelter, 57, has been charged in the June 14 killings of Democratic Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, and in the attempted murder of Democratic Sen. John Hoffman and his wife. After attacking the couples in their respective homes, the suspect fled and was captured after a 36-hour manhunt.
Police booking photo shows Vance Boelter in Green Isle, Minn., June 16. (Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office)
But as federal authorities continue to build their case against Boelter, experts who track extremist groups are piecing together the political and religious influences they say likely motivated the shootings.
The early picture emerging from podcasts, social media posts and Boelter’s own writings is of a strident anti-abortionist and Christian nationalist more or less indoctrinated by dominionist and Latter Rain theologies and possibly by the New Apostolic Reformation network.
“From what I’ve been able to gather today in looking into this man, who frankly I had never heard of before this, he is absolutely not a prominent figure in the independent charismatic world,” author and academic Matthew Taylor said as a guest on the June 15 episode of the “Straight White American Jesus” podcast.
Taylor is a senior scholar at the Institute for Christian Jewish and Islamic Studies in Baltimore and his book, The Violent Take It By Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy, is a deep dive into the radically Christian nationalist New Apostolic Reformation movement.
Matthew Taylor
The NAR is made up of loosely affiliated but highly organized and self-proclaimed apostles, prophets and worship leaders convinced God has given them the authority to rebuild and lead the church and, by extension, the nation. Leaders from the movement played key roles in driving the January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.
“What I could gather from a quick survey of his (Boelter’s) life and digital history is that he is somebody who has dipped into the world that surrounds the New Apostolic Reformation, has spent some time in charismatic leadership circles, has some ties in that world, and that seems to have played some role in his radicalization,” Taylor said.
Taylor said he has not detected “a ton” of spiritual warfare rhetoric in what he’s been able to read about Boelter so far, but a video of him preaching in Africa indicates an adherence to Latter Reign theology — the belief Christians will control church and government ahead of Christ’s Second Coming.
“He’s making reference to the American church there from the (Democratic Republic of) Congo and says the American church needs to be renewed. It’s out of line, and so God’s going to send apostles and prophets to renew and bring it back into line to correct it.”
Boelter also was a highly charged pro-life proponent who left behind a manifesto and hit list identifying abortion rights supporters and other politicians as additional targets, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
That focus on abortion could have been stoked by a number of sources including the NAR, Taylor said. “I don’t know where he picked up that radicalization around abortion, but I will say that the entire independent charismatic media space is just filled to the brim with very, very extreme rhetoric around abortion.”
Some of the most extreme examples of that teach abortion is a form of child sacrifice to demons controlling the United States, Taylor noted. “And if that’s your position, there is no debating, there is no compromising, there’s no negotiating. That they believe this is a pagan practice that is throwing demons over America, that has certain implications.”
Yet it’s hard to say definitively that’s where Boelter got his ideas, Taylor added. “I don’t know if it was through NAR preaching that this guy came to those ideas, but he’s swimming in the waters where those ideas are present.”
Experts also are looking into Boelter’s education for clues about this theological orientation and willingness to use violence.
The Dallas Morning News confirmed Boelter attended Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas, a multi-denominational “Spirit-filled” Bible college with charismatic, evangelical and Pentecostal lineage.
Jeff Sharlet
In his “Scenes from a Slow Civil War” Substack, American fascism expert Jeff Sharlet remarked on a photo he took in the institute’s lobby in 2024. It is accompanied with the text, “Everyone Ought to Pray at Least One Violent Prayer Each Day.”
In his June 14 piece about Boelter’s education, Sharlet relayed how a student at the school explained the meaning of “violent prayer.”
“‘It was necessary,’ he said, to remind yourself every day that ‘the culture’ — the rest of us, the unsaved — are the enemy. He clarified: ‘Not you, in particular,’ he said. ‘Just, you know, the culture.’ He wasn’t a killer.”
Christ for the Nations Institute was founded in 1970 by Pentecostal revivalist and author Gordon Lindsay, who previously was involved with the white supremacist Christian Identity ideology that sprung from the mid-20th century, said Sharlet, professor of art and writing at Dartmouth College and author of The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War.
Lindsay’s understanding of “spiritual war” was that of “a physicalized reality” Boelter preached and clearly followed, Sharlet said. “Metaphors don’t just reflect reality, they shape it. Like actual war, spiritual war presupposes an enemy so dangerous and so unreasonable that violence is the only logical response.”
The spreading of conspiracy theories has become another response from the Right since Boelter conducted his attacks dressed as a police officer.
Right-wing media influencer Mike Cernovich joined other MAGA voices claiming Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was involved in planning the shootings because Boelter had been appointed to a state business commission. “The vice president candidate for the Democrat Party is directly connected to a domestic terrorist, that is confirmed, the only question is whether Tim Walz himself ordered the political hit against a rival who voted against Walz’s plan to give free healthcare to illegals.”
Sen. Mike Lee (Photo by Mandel Ngan-Pool/Getty Images)
U.S. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah blamed the shootings on liberals. “This is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way,” he said on X.
“The far left is murderously violent,” billionaire and former Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk posted.
The pushback against such obvious lies has been vigorous. Former Biden aide Neera Tanden mocked Musk with a reference to his recent public spat with President Donald Trump: “One thing I agree with Trump on — is you’re insane. They had a target list of abortion clinics.”
A CBS News video shows Boelter’s roommate, David Carlson, telling reporters the suspect definitely was not a liberal.
“Everyone’s calling him a Democrat. He’s not a Democrat. He would be offended people called them Democrat,” the man said.
Meanwhile, Taylor said Americans can expect to see more of such incidents.
“We are seeing this rise in political violence that is deeply, deeply concerning and yet somehow very, very predictable as the boiling point in our society keeps everything at this high boil of intensity and rage and aggression and incitement. We are on a knife’s edge and it’s a situation where incidents like these are going to happen.”
Related articles:
The New Apostolic Reformation drove the January 6 riots, so why was it overlooked by the House Select Committee? | Analysis by Rick Pidcock
Politics, faith and mission: A conversation with Matthew D. Taylor | Opinion by Greg Garrett
False prophets have hijacked the evangelical movement | Opinion by Rodney Kennedy