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Saturday, June 14, 2025

Minnesota shooting suspect told friend in text message: I might be dead soon

Vance Boelter was at a Minneapolis home on Saturday morning where he rented a room part-time, and texted his roommates, I made some bad choices, I may be dead soon.

FOX 9 is learning more about 57-year-old Boelter, who is a suspect in two shootings that left a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband dead, and injured another lawmaker and his wife Saturday morning.

Vance Boelter rents room in Minneapolis home

Friend of Vance Boelter: 'He really hated abortion' in the 90s

David Carlson, a friend of Vance Boelter, spoke with FOX 9 about the Minnesota lawmaker shooting suspect. Boelter texted them Saturday morning, "David and Ron, I love you guys. I’ve made some choices and you guys don’t know anything about this, but I’m going to be gone for a while. I’ll be dead shortly. So I just want to let you know that I love you guys both. And wish it hand’s gone this way. I don’t want to say anything more, and implicate you in any way because you guys don’t know anything about this, but I love you guys and I’m sorry for all the trouble this has caused."

What we know:

Authorities say Vance Boelter is the suspect in the shootings of Minnesota lawmakers Melissa Hortman and John Hoffman. Hortman and her husband were killed, and Hoffman and his wife were injured.

In the hours after the shooting, FOX 9’s Mary McGuire has learned Boelter went to a Minneapolis home on the 4800 block of Fremont Avenue where he rented a room part-time. He sent a text to his roommates saying, "David and Ron, I love you guys. I’ve made some choices and you guys don’t know anything about this, but I’m going to be gone for a while. I’ll be dead shortly. So I just want to let you know that I love you guys both. And wish it hand’s gone this way. I don’t want to say anything more, and implicate you in any way because you guys don’t know anything about this, but I love you guys and I’m sorry for all the trouble this has caused."

Police served a search warrant at the home in connection with the investigation, and used battering rams to get inside the home.

Friend shares Vance Boelter's text: 'I'll be dead shortly'

Boelter had vehicles at the home, and broke out one of the windows, but it’s not clear if he left the area in one of the vehicles. Authorities say the image of him wearing a cowboy hat is from surveillance cameras at the Minneapolis home.

The renters are back at the home Saturday evening, cleaning up damage. They also told FOX 9 his main family home is in Green Isle, and he’s married with five kids, and has several pets.

The roommate tells FOX 9 he has known Boelter for more than 40 years, since fourth grade, and didn't express a lot of strong political views. He did, however, have strong views on abortion. Authorities also found receipts for items used in Saturday morning's shootings in one of his vehicles at the Minneapolis home.

Timeline of what happened

MN lawmaker shooting: The latest, timeline of what happened

Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were fatally shot in Brooklyn Park. Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were also shot in what police are calling a targeted attack.

Timeline:

Here's a look at the timeline of what we know so far:

About 2 a.m. on June 14: A 911 call in Champlin was made at about 2 a.m. Saturday. Police then found that Minnesota Sen. Hoffman and his wife had been shot. Both Hoffman and his wife are recovering from gunshot wounds after undergoing surgery at the hospital.
3:35 a.m.: Brooklyn Park police officers then "proactively" went to the home of Rep. Hortman, authorities say. It was there that they encountered the suspect, who was dressed up as an officer with a fake police vehicle. The suspect opened fire on officers, but the suspect fled. In the suspect's vehicle, authorities found a manifesto with lawmakers' names on it and papers with "No Kings" written on them.
5:30 a.m.: The shelter-in-place alert was sent at 5:30 a.m. by BPPD for the 3-mile radius around the Edinburgh Golf Course.
Around 6 a.m.: Vance Boelter briefly returned to a home near 49th and Fremont in Minneapolis, where he rented a room part-time. He texted two of the roommates that he had made some bad choices, he doesn't want to implicate them, and he may be dead soon. He did have vehicles at the home and broke out one of the windows, but it's unclear if he took one of those vehicles before he fled. The image of Boelter in the cowboy hat is from the surveillance cameras at this home. The renters have been allowed back inside the home.
Around 9:45 a.m.: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced at a press conference that Hortman and her husband had died after being shot. Walz said they're "cautiously optimistic" about Hoffman and his wife's recovery.
Around 11 a.m.: Authorities and Gov. Walz urged people to not attend any political rallies until the suspect is apprehended.
Around 11:30 a.m.: Champlin authorities say there is no current threat to public safety in the city.
Before 1 p.m.: The Associated Press identified Vance Luther Boelter, 57, as the suspect. He was appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton in 2016 and then by Gov. Walz in 2019 to the bipartisan workforce development board. His term expired in 2023.
About 1:30 p.m.: Police clear the scene at Hoffman's house in Champlin.
Around 1:45 p.m.: Police served a search warrant at a home near 49th and Fremont in Minneapolis in connection with the investigation. Authorities used battering rams to get inside. Those who are renting the home told FOX 9 Boelter was a part-time renter of a room in the home.
3 p.m.: Authorities named Vance Boelter as a "person of interest" and suspect in the case, and asked for the public's help in locating him.
3:20 p.m.: Brooklyn Park authorities have cleared the shelter-in-place order. But an alert sent to people living in the area asks people to call 911 if you see something suspicious. Police will still be in the area collecting evidence. Meanwhile, Mercy Hospital remains on lockdown.
3:50 p.m.: The Hennepin County Medical Examiner released the initial reports for the Hortmans, saying Melissa Hortman, 55, and Mark Hortman, 58, both died of multiple gunshot wounds. A time of death was not listed, but the report says Mark Hortman died at North Memorial Hospital, while Melissa Hortman died at her home.
4 p.m.: The FBI is offering a $50,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Vance Boelter.

Dig deeper:

Read more of FOX 9's coverage on the shootings:

https://www.fox9.com/news/mn-lawmaker-shootings-vance-boelter-texted-roommates-i-may-be-dead-soon

Accused Minn. assassin Boelter has ties to Middle East and Africa, runs security company

The Minnesota man being sought in connection with the Saturday morning assassination of a state lawmaker and the shooting of another runs a security company and has ties to the Middle East and Africa, online biographies showed.

Vance Luther Boelter lists himself on LinkedIn as the CEO of the Red Lion Group, which is based in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He also worked with Minnesota Africans United, a statewide organization working with African immigrants in the state, according to a now deleted biography on the group’s web site.

In 2022, Boelter participated as a keynote speaker in his capacity as CEO of Red Lion Group for a seminar held jointly by the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Minnesota Africans United and Global Minnesota, video showed.

Boetler conducted the call from Moanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo and spoke of the Red Lion Group’s ventures in the African nation.

“This all started back in 2019, when my partner, McNay Nkashama, brought in the ambassador from the DRC to Minnesota, and we had meetings, the bulk of them in Minneapolis but the bulk of them that I was at was in Worthington, Minnesota where we made those connections,” Boetler said.

The suspected assassin spoke about plans for several agricultural pilot projects in the DRC that he believed would “create a lot of jobs fast” and “serve as a model” for future investors into the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He claimed to have business ventures in fishing, farming, media, security, and motorcycle-taxis all within the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“We’re partnering with 400 farmers who are ready to go on a farming project… we’re doing a fishing project that works with like 500 fishermans…that’s off the coast of Rwanda,” Boelter claimed in a quintessential Minnesota accent.

“Another one that we’re looking at doing is a totally women led motorcycle-taxi business, where all the operators are women, and the leadership is women, so we’re excited to get that off the ground,” Boelter stated, according to the video.

“I would like to get 1,000 female motorcycle-taxis running in the near future but we need some sponsors to invest in that,” the suspected assassin said.

Boelter, 57, who is believed to have posed as a police officer during the shootings, 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,” according to its 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,” according to the Praetorian web site.

Last month, Boelter said he was open to work.

Boelter listed food service more than security in his work history.

His LinkedIn profile includes jobs at 7-Eleven, where he was a general manager from 2016 to 2021. He also worked at various times as a manager at Del Monte, Johnsonville Sausage and at a company called Greencore, which manufactures convenience foods in the United Kingdom.

He was twice appointed to Minnesota government by different Democratic governors. In 2016 then-Gov Mark Dayton named Boelter to the Workforce Development Council, and in 2019 Walz to serve a four-year stint on the Workforce Development Board, documents show.

Boetler last registered to vote in 2022 as a Republican.

In a Nov. 5, 2018 post on his profile, Boetler encouraged others to vote in the upcoming presidential election — and expressed his fears for the outcome.

“I am very big on just telling people to be a part of the process and vote your values and be part of this adventure we are all a part of living in the United States of America,” he wrote.

“I think the election is going to have more of an impact on the direction of our country than probably any election we have been apart of, or will be apart of for years to come.”

Boetler earned his undergraduate degree in international relations at St. Cloud State University, according to his LinkedIn, and later obtained a Masters of Science and Management and Doctorate in Leadership degrees, both from Cardinal Stritch University.

Messages for Jenny Boelter, Praetorian and Minnesota Africans United were not immediately returned.

Authorities are searching for Boetler, who remains on the loose after cops say he shot Sen. John Hoffman and his wife in their Champlin home early Saturday, leaving them seriously injured before moving on to former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortmon’s house, where he is believed to have slaughtered her and her husband, police sources previously told The Post.

The suspect allegedly exchanged gunfire with the cops who responded to Hortman’s home and briefly cornered him inside — but he got away, and left behind a “manifesto” listing the names of 70 politicians, including Walz, and a stack of papers stating “No Kings” in reference to the nationwide anti-Trump protests Saturday, according to cops.

https://nypost.com/2025/06/14/us-news/accused-minnesota-assassin-vance-boelter-is-tied-to-middle-east-and-africa-runs-security-company/

Taiwan Imposes Export Controls On China's Huawei, SMIC

In what Beijing may view as a sharp escalation in the tech trade war, Taiwan blacklisted Chinese tech giants, Huawei and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), dealing a major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge AI chip technologies.

As Bloomberg first reported, Taiwan’s International Trade Administration included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, according to the latest version that was made available on its website on Saturday, although the organization didn’t publicly announce the change.

According to Taiwan’s existing regulations, local companies will require approval from the island’s government before they can ship anything to users on the entity list.

The new restrictions imposed by Taiwan will at least partially cut off Huawei and SMIC’s access to Taiwan’s plant construction technologies, materials and equipment essential to build AI semiconductors, like those made by Taiwan Semi for the likes of Nvidia.

In Huawei’s case, several of its overseas units including in Japan, Russia and Germany were also captured in the update to Taiwan’s entity list. Both Huawei and SMIC, and some of their subsidiaries, are already on the US entity list, which has significantly limited the companies' ability to acquire foreign technology.

In 2023, Bloomberg News reported that several Taiwanese companies were helping Huawei build infrastructure for an under-the-radar network of chip plants across southern China.

While Taiwan has for years imposed certain blanket bans on the shipments of critical chipmaking equipment including lithography machines to China, it hasn’t included leading Chinese tech companies or chipmakers on its entity list previously. TSMC, the go-to chipmaker for Apple Inc. and Nvidia, cut off its supplies to Huawei in 2020 because of US export controls.

Huawei, together with SMIC, shocked American politicians in 2023 by releasing an advanced, made-in-China 7-nanometer chip. While the two are struggling to improve their technologies due to various curbs, they are still China’s best hope to help fill in the AI chip gap left by a lack of Nvidia’s most sophisticated semiconductors.

Tensions between Taiwan and China also stepped up a notch earlier this year after Taiwan President Lai Ching-te labeled China a “foreign hostile force” for the first time and unveiled wide-ranging measures to counter infiltration efforts.
China claims the self-governing democracy is its territory and has vowed to unify with Taiwan, using force if necessary.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/taiwan-imposes-export-controls-chinas-huawei-smic

Supreme Court: US Gun Makers Not Liable For Cartel Violence

by James Eustis via RealClearPolitics (emphasis ours),

Commentary

In a unanimous blow to gun control advocacy groups, the Supreme Court shut down Mexico’s $10 billion claim targeting U.S. gun makers in a cross-border lawsuit.

Mexico originally filed the suit in 2021, arguing that U.S. gun companies were responsible for the weapons that fueled cartel violence. Mexico received support in its lawsuit from American gun control advocacy groups such as Everytown and March for our Lives Action Fund.

The Supreme Court ruling, written by Justice Elena Kagan, found that the manufacturer’s alleged failure to exercise “reasonable care” does not meet the standard necessary to be found liable for “aiding and abetting” the sale of illegal firearms in Mexico.

Mexico had asked the court for $10 billion in damages and additional court-imposed injunctive relief in the form of restrictions on manufacturers. According to a lawyer who spoke to RCP, siding with Mexico on the injunctive relief “would have likely severely prohibited the distribution of the manufacturer’s products” within the United States.

A federal district court judge initially ruled that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act protected the gun manufacturers from the suit. In 2024, the First Circuit Court of Appeals revitalized the lawsuit. In response, gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson brought the case to the Supreme Court.

The PLCAA, signed into law in 2005 by President George W. Bush, shields gun manufacturers and dealers from liability when crimes are committed with their products. The law includes exceptions which Mexico’s lawyers sought to invoke.

The original suit by Mexico, which named multiple U.S.-based gun manufacturers as defendants, claimed that Mexicans “have been victimized by a deadly flood of military-style and other particularly lethal guns that flows from the U.S. across the border.” It also argued that U.S. companies were negligent in their sales practices, claiming that the gun companies “are not accidental or unintentional players in this tragedy; they are deliberate and willing participants, reaping profits from the criminal market they knowingly supply.”

In response, lawyers for Smith & Wesson argued in a filing that the lawsuit “faults the defendants for producing common firearms” and for “failing to restrict the purchase of firearms by regular citizens.” They made the case that “aiding and abetting criminal activity must involve something more than making products generally.” Ultimately, the Supreme Court agreed with this reasoning.

In reference to the injunctive relief that Mexico asked the court to grant, lawyers for Smith & Wesson asserted that the lawsuit was “inflicting costly and intrusive discovery at the hands of a foreign sovereign that is trying to bully the industry into adopting a host of gun-control measures that have been repeatedly rejected by American voters.”

According to some estimates, more than 250,000 firearms are smuggled from the United States into Mexico each year. In contrast, Mexico has one gun store and issues fewer than 50 new gun permits each year. The U.S. is the largest firearm exporter in the world, partly due to relaxed gun laws within the country.

The unanimous decision marks the first ruling by the Supreme Court where the PLCAA is cited and could serve as precedent for protecting weapons manufacturers in future cases. The 9-0 ruling suggests strong judicial consensus on the limits of civil liability for gun manufacturers under federal law. It is seen as a win by gun rights activists, with the NRA arguing in their amicus brief on the case that “Mexico has extinguished its constitutional arms right and now seeks to extinguish America’s.”

Justices Clarence Thomas and Ketanji Brown Jackson each issued concurring opinions, with Jackson writing that Mexico’s lawsuit targeted industry-wide practices that Congress has chosen not to prohibit and Thomas arguing that violations of U.S. law must be established in court for the PLCAA exceptions to be valid.

James Eustis is an intern at RealClearPolitics. He studies politics at Washington & Lee University.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/supreme-court-us-gun-makers-not-liable-cartel-violence

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