The best friend and roommate of suspected political assassin Vance Boelter said that he got a chilling final text message from the suspected killer saying he would soon be dead just hours after Saturday’s bloodbath, a report said.
David Carlson revealed that Boetler texted at about 6 a.m. Saturday, shortly after former Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed and Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were shot.
Boetler texted Carlson and a third friend that he would be dead shortly and that he loved them, local KARE reported.
“David and Ron, I love you guys. I made some choices, and you guys don’t know anything about this, but I’m going to be gone for a while. May be dead shortly, so I just want to let you know I love you guys both and I wish it hadn’t gone this way,” Carlson read from his phone while sitting on the front stoop, video showed.
“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,” the message read.
Carlson immediately called authorities fearing that Boelter may have hurt himself, according to that report.
The 59-year-old expressed shock that his friend, who he first met in fourth grade, could be involved in the heinous killings.
“He wasn’t a hateful person,” Carlson, 59, said, adding, “But he needed help.”
Carlson shared that Boetler, who was engaged in several ambitious business ventures including Praetorian Security Company and Red Lion Group, was experiencing financial trouble and struggled to find work, CNN reported.
“He was looking around, but maybe things didn’t work out and he just gave up and decided to go out in a blaze of glory,” Carlson said. “I have no idea what he was thinking.
When asked about the political leanings of Boetler, Carlson revealed that — despite once being a political appointee of the state’s Democratic Gov. Tim Walz — voted for President Donald Trump, but that he was not aware of his feelings on state politics, the report stated.
Boetler, 57, was also strongly anti-abortion but not in a way that could have motivated him to kill, according to his lifelong pal.
“It wasn’t the thing that defined him,” Carlson said, adding, “I mean, it wasn’t his total existence. He would talk about other things.”
Boelter lived at the home in North Minneapolis just a few days a week, according to the roommate, and was not there at the time officers executed a search warrant on Saturday.
Police were called to Senator Hoffman’s home at 2:08 a.m. and responded to Rep. Hortman’s home at 3:35 a.m. — where they encountered and exchanged gunfire with the suspect.
Boetler is still on the loose and wanted by police who are warning Minnesotans that he is considered armed and dangerous.
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