Minn. shooting suspect Vance Boelter ran bogus security company and faced ‘struggles’ after prolonged stint in Africa, roommate says

Suspected assassin Vance Boelter fronted a security firm his best friend said never existed and experienced “struggles” after returning from a three-year trip to Africa months before he allegedly turned his gun on a pair of Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses.

Federal and state authorities are on the hunt for Boelter, 57, who allegedly disguised himself as a cop before executing former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home early Saturday, just prior to shooting and seriously wounding state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, in their house.

Authorities are closing in on Boelter after his car was found in a rural area near his home — and neighbors reported hearing gunshots.

Friends and roommates described the accused gunman as a quiet but intelligent family man who rarely discussed politics.

But behind the unassuming façade lurked hints of a growing trouble within, which began after a three-year stint in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he claimed to have multiple business interests tied to his security company, Red Lion Group.

“I thought his demeanor [changed], he wasn’t as cheerful as he used to be. Since he got back from Africa, I guess,” Boelter’s roommate and self-described best friend David Carlson told The Post, adding he got back four months ago and quit his job to go there.

“He came back and he was struggling a little bit. I thought it was normal struggles.”

Boelter calls himself the CEO of Red Lion Group on his LinkedIn page, where he lists the company’s home base as the Democratic Republic of Congo. But besides the passing reference, virtually no information is available about the company.

“His dream was to have a security company,” Carlson said, hinting that his dream was more rooted in delusion than reality.

“He never was or never had a security company. He wasn’t doing security for anybody — it wasn’t his job.”

Carlson noted that Boelter even had two official cars for the alleged company despite having “no clients [and] no employees.”

His bio on Red Lion Group’s since-deleted website said he worked with Minnesota Africans United, a statewide organization helping African immigrants in the state. However, the organization told The Post they never hired, paid, or contracted with Boelter, and that he never served in any official or unofficial capacity in the organization.

In a now-deleted post from last month, Boelter wrote on LinkedIn that he had just returned after a three-year stint in the Democratic Republic of Congo and was looking for work in the food service industry.

His profile mentions positions he previously held with companies including 7-Eleven, Del Monte and Johnsonville.

Carlson said his friend had a tough time landing a job after returning from his most recent overseas trip, sharing, “I thought his thing in Africa was bringing him down.”

“It’s a dangerous country and he was very involved with the community there, with the people there. He tried to help the villagers fish. He owned a fishing boat there. He was trying to help the community because they don’t have fishing boats,” he said.

Boelter’s apparent obsession with play-acting as a security operations expert extended to another dubious business venture called Praetorian Guard Security Services, ostensibly helmed by his wife, Jenny.

The company website lists Boelter as “Director of Security Patrols,” boasting he’s been “involved” with “security situations in Eastern Europe, Africa, North America and the Middle East, including the West Bank, Southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.”

Jenny Boelter was stopped by police several hours after the assassinations while driving a car with several relatives near Onamia, Minnesota, and briefly detained after cops found a weapon, ammunition, cash and passports.

She was held for questioning but not arrested.

As of Sunday afternoon, Boelter was still on the run. Police and federal agents swarmed a Minnesota farm community in Sibley County after discovering a car and a cowboy hat belonging to the suspected assassin.

The discovery was made on a rural road about 50 miles southwest of Minneapolis, near his last known address in Green Isle.

Hours after the bloodbath, Boelter sent a chilling text message to two friends indicating he “may be dead shortly” and saying he was “sorry for all the trouble this has caused,” ostensibly referring to the quadruple shooting targeting Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses.

Brian Liebhard, a 65-year-old retired plastics industry worker, told The Post he heard two gunshots around 2:30 a.m., compounding suspicions Boelter might have taken his own life.

“That is not something that normally happens,” he said as law enforcement searched his farm. 

“I would have think they would have apprehended him by now,” he said, noting that the road has been blocked off since he got back from church shortly after 9 a.m.

Asked if he was concerned for his safety, Liebhard said “f–k no,” adding, “I would kneecap that son-of-a-bitch.”

As for whether he thinks Boelter is hiding in the vicinity of where the manhunt is underway, he put on his conspiracy hat.

“You wouldn’t think he’d be dumb enough to be out here, that’s why I think it’s a decoy,” he said.

“He ain’t hiding in the cornfields.”