𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐀𝐒 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐎𝐓𝐀 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐔𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝐀𝐒 "𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐆," "𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐎𝐔𝐓" 𝐅𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐍

 

Vance Luther Boelter

Two decades before he was a murder suspect in Minnesota, Vance Luther Boelter was an employee at a Gerber plant in Fort Smith, Arkansas, an easy-to-get-along-with, upbeat boss, a former co-worker said Monday.

Daniel Thueson, now senior pastor at Springdale, Arkansas First United Methodist Church, labored alongside Boelter in the labeling and packaging area for roughly 18 months and liked him.

"I was the team leader and he was the supervisor, so we worked hand-in-hand a lot," he said.

At that stage in life, they had similar Christian outlooks and personalities that meshed.

"We were both easygoing, high-energy people," Thueson said. "I always thought he was very, very kind and gentle and generous and graceful to people. I never saw him lose his cool. He was somebody who's always very encouraging."

Boelter, 57, was arrested Monday and faces state and federal murder charges in attacks that killed a Minnesota lawmaker and wounded another. Law enforcement officials say he meticulously planned the attacks, carrying out surveillance missions, taking notes on the homes and people he targeted and disguising himself as a police officer just before the shootings.

At the time Thueson worked with Boelter, neither man was Methodist. Thueson was a student at Faith Bible Institute in Alma, Arkansas and part of a non-denominational church. He believes Boelter's church was independent as well.

Theologically, "we were both pretty close to fundamentalist," he said.

Before and after shifts, Boelter sometimes shared details about his personal life.

He was living in Muldrow, Oklahoma, according to a news account at the time; in May 2002, his wife had given birth to a daughter.

"A lot of times the conversation would steer towards our faith and our family. I know that it was important to him that his wife stay home and raise the kids. I believe they were homeschooling the kids," Thueson said. "He was pretty devout in his faith."

Boelter worked at the Gerber plant for roughly three or four years, Thueson said.

He subsequently went to work for Johnsonville Sausage and then Del Monte Foods, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The two traded occasional emails but eventually lost touch after Boelter journeyed north, Thueson said.

In 2009, Thueson headed to Dallas to study at Southern Methodist University's Perkins School of Theology, but returned to Arkansas following graduation. Over the years, he has led United Methodist congregations in Alma, Charleston, Mountain Home and Springdale.

He was cooking breakfast for his wife Saturday morning when he received news alerts about the murder of Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark.

A few hours later, he learned the suspect's name.

Two days later, he's still trying to fathom what took Boelter down this path. He said he is thinking about the two lives taken and two other victims who were shot repeatedly but survived.

"There's going to be so much pain and grief from that and my heart breaks for them and for their families and for their communities," he said.

He's concerned, as well, about Boelter's children.

He said he is also wondering why Jenny Boelter was traveling in a car over the weekend that reportedly contained money, passports and a weapon.

"My heart breaks for whatever led them down this path because this is not how we represent our faith, this is not how you share the gospel of Christ, this is not who we are as people that follow Jesus," he said.

Thueson said he is concerned by the tensions he sees in the country and hopes steps are taken to dial them down.

"Instead of using this as an opportunity to point fingers, let's use this as an opportunity to examine ourselves and what we might be doing to lead ourselves or lead somebody else down a similar path. Instead of building walls and being divisive, let's find ways to focus on what we have in common," he said. "As people created in the image of God, we need to be able to see that in each other."

"Even if we don't agree on how to live out our faith or interpret Scripture, we can all agree that we are called to follow Jesus and that (his) ultimate law is love," he said. "Jesus tells us to love our neighbor and love our enemy, because those are ways that we show our love for God."

Information for this report was provided by Randal Seyler of the River Valley Democrat-Gazette and The Associated Press.