Vance Boelter was preoccupied with societal issues and the way he may repair them to serve the larger good, in keeping with a few of his earlier writings and the person who labored with Boelter for greater than a decade doing net design for a collection of his initiatives.
Earlier than allegedly finishing up a “political assassination” on Saturday, Boelter was “clearly very non secular, very passionate,” and “religious, and honest in his beliefs,” stated Charlie Kalech, CEO of the net design agency J-City, commissioned by Boelter. However at the moment, Boelter appeared to indicate no indicators of the violent extremism of which he is now accused, Kalech stated.
A memorial is seen on the desk of DFL State Rep. Melissa Hortman within the Home chambers on the Minnesota State Capitol, June 16, 2025 in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Steven Garcia/Getty Photos
Boelter is charged with killing Democratic Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and wounding Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his spouse. Allegedly posing as a police officer over Father’s Day weekend, authorities stated Boelter “shot them in chilly blood” in an alleged early-morning rampage that launched a two-day manhunt.
On this Jan. 3, 2023, file picture, Speaker of the Home Melissa Hortman addresses the home flooring in St. Paul, Minn. | John Hoffman is present n throughout a flooring session, on Jan. 4, 2023.
Abbie Parr/AP | A.J. Olmscheid, Minnesota Senate Media Companies
Nonetheless, within the previous years, Boelter appeared like a tough employee striving to make his concepts actual, and generally, struggling to make ends meet. His fervent persona frothed with huge, civic-minded concepts on the best way to “make the world a greater place,” Kalech stated. Within the skilled relationship that they had, Boelter was clearly “idealistic.”
“I feel he sincerely believed within the initiatives that we labored on, that he was performing for the larger good,” Kalech instructed ABC Information. “I actually by no means obtained the impression he noticed himself as a savior. He simply considered himself as a wise man who found out the answer to issues, and it is not so troublesome – so let’s simply do it. Like a name to motion type of individual.”
Most of these grand-scale initiatives by no means got here to fruition, and the final time Kalech stated he had contact with Boelter was Could 2022. However in planning paperwork and PowerPoint displays shared with ABC Information, which Kalech stated Boelter wrote for the net design, Boelter detailed prolonged proposals that expressed frustration with what he noticed as unjust struggling that wanted to be stopped. A few of these initiatives had been additionally sweeping, to the purpose of quixotic — even for the deepest-pocketed entrepreneur.
Reserving picture launched by the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Workplace on June 16, 2025, exhibits Vance Boelter on the Hennepin County Jail in Minnesota.
Hennepin County Sheriff’s Workplace/AFP through Getty Photos
Boelter first reached out to Kalech’s agency for a e book he had written, “Revoformation,” which Kalech took to be a mashup between “revolution” and “reformation.” It is also the identify of the ministry Boelter had as soon as tried to get off the bottom, in keeping with the group’s tax kinds.
“It appeared to me like perhaps he volunteered greater than what was good for him. In different phrases, he gave an excessive amount of away as an alternative of worrying about incomes cash, as a result of he did not all the time have cash,” Kalech stated. “It was by no means clear to me if the ministry actually existed. Are there congregants? Is there a constituency? I do not know. Or was it like one thing in his head that he was attempting to make? That was by no means clear to me.”
Kalech recalled that Boelter selected his agency for the work as a result of they’re Jerusalem-based, and he wished to assist Israel.
Boelter’s curiosity in faith’s affect on society is mirrored in a “Revoformation” PowerPoint that Kalech stated Boelter gave him, dated September 2017.
“I’m very involved that the management within the U.S. is slowly turning in opposition to Israel as a result of we’re shedding our Judaic / Christian foundations that was (sic) as soon as very robust,” the presentation stated. “I consider that if the Christians are united and the people who find themselves main this Revoformation are a blessing to Israel that it will likely be good for each Israel and the U.S.”
Through the years, Boelter would attain out with what gave the impression to be exponentially bold endeavors, Kalech stated: “What he wished to tackle, I feel, may need been larger.”
Boelter wished to finish American starvation, in keeping with one other mission’s PowerPoint. And whereas the concept would require huge modifications to present legal guidelines and meals regulation, it appeared Boelter dismissed that as surmountable if solely elected officers may get on board.
“American Starvation is not a meals availability downside,” the presentation stated. “American Starvation is a instrument that has been used to control and management an enormous variety of American’s (sic), with the best share being folks of shade. This instrument can and must be damaged now, and failure to take action will likely be seen as intentional prison negligence by future generations.”
“We must be embarrassed as a nation that we let this occur and haven’t accurately (sic) this injustice 100 years in the past,” one slide stated.
One slide described how his personal lived expertise knowledgeable his thought, referring to him within the third individual: “a number of instances in his life Vance Boelter was the primary individual on the scene of very unhealthy head on automotive accidents,” and that he was capable of assist “with out worry of doing one thing unsuitable” as a result of he was “protected” by Good Samaritan regulation – which may and must be utilized to meals waste, the slide stated.
To regulate which lawmakers supported the mandatory laws, “there must be a monitoring mechanism,” the presentation stated, the place residents may “see listed each singe (sic) elected official and the place they stand on the Regulation (Meals Suppliers Good Samaritan Regulation).”
“These few that come out and attempt to persuade those who it’s higher to destroy meals than to provide it away free to folks, will likely be shortly seen for who they’re. Meals Slavers which have profited off the starvation of individuals for years,” the 18-slide, almost 2,000-word presentation stated.
“A minimum of in his thoughts and on paper, he was fixing issues,” Kalech instructed ABC Information. “He would take into consideration issues after which have a euphoric second and write out a manifesto of, How am I going to unravel this? After which carry these ideas to paper and produce that paper to an motion plan and attempt to implement it.”
The final mission Kalech stated Boelter wished to have interaction him for was a multifaceted assortment of companies to assist start-up and increasing companies within the Democratic Republic of Congo, all below the umbrella “Purple Lion Group.”
The 14-page, over 6,000-word planning doc for the mission outlined concepts for what Purple Lion Group would provide: ranging broadly from “safety companies” to agricultural and weapons manufacturing sectors, medical provides, funding companies, martial arts, oil and fuel and waste administration. Purple Lion would additionally serve in media areas: with “CONGOWOOD” Movie Productions “to be what Hollywood is to American films and what Bollywood is to Indian films.”
Boelter was to have a 49% minority possession of the group, with a enterprise associate proudly owning 51%.
“The Africa factor, the Purple Lion factor, we did not actually get into it, as a result of it turned fairly obvious fairly quickly that he simply did not have the funds to go forward,” Kalech stated – at the very least, so far as his net design companies had been involved.
“He was fascinated by doing good,” Kalech stated. “However moderation in all issues, and when good turns into excessive, it truly turns into unhealthy,” including that hurting anybody crosses a “crimson line.”
“The query one retains coming again to is – what makes the seesaw tip? Like, he is good, he is good, he is good, he is performing for the larger good, he has all these good concepts, he is attempting to have interaction group, serving on a authorities committee, he is partaking church buildings and locations of worship, after which one thing occurs, and he goes ballistic,” Kalech stated.
“Who would do this? Somebody who’s completely determined, simply seeing that there is not any different selection. That is the one factor I can think about. However look, clearly somebody like this isn’t working on the identical frequency as we’re,” Kalech stated. “They’re blinded by their religion, or their beliefs. And, you recognize, particularly one thing like homicide, it is so ironic, as a result of that is one of many huge 10.”
