ST. PAUL — Current and former Sleepy Eye residents shared memories of Vance Luther Boelter, the man accused of murdering a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband and shooting another lawmaker and his spouse last weekend in the Twin Cities.

Boelter is the alleged killer of Minnesota Democratic lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark. Boelter impersonated a police officer and allegedly shot Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette in their home June 14. Both of the Hoffmans survived an alleged assassination attempt a few hours later.

Sleepy Eye fitness trainer Brent Mielke talked about his memories of Boelter several decades ago.

“I knew Vance, his brother Tarry, and their dad Donny and really liked them all,” said Mielke.

“Vance always had a smile on his face. He had a good sense of humor, but he was driven. He wanted to excel. He played football, basketball and baseball and worked hard at whatever he did,” Mielke said.

He said Vance Boelter trained in his downtown Sleepy Eye fitness gym and played summer league basketball after Boelter moved back to Sleepy Eye to work at Del Monte from 2008 to 2011.

Mielke said Boelter was a pastor who filled in at the pulpit a number of times at a church that held services in the Sleepy Eye High School gym after he moved back to town with his family.

He shared his thoughts on the deaths last weekend.

“If anybody would say anything, it’s why?” said Mielke. “The only person who can answer that is Vance. Killing is wrong no matter what. You can’t justify one evil for another. If you follow Christ, you have to be Christ-like. If you don’t, you are not a Christian.”

Mielke said it reminds him of a TV show episode in which a detective told a suspect “if he didn’t like something, don’t take the law into your own hands, create a petition or work some other way to change it.”

Retired Lutheran pastor Ron Freimark of St. Paul was a pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Sleepy Eye. He said the Boelters lived across the street from his church a couple decades ago.

Freimark recalled Vance and his family.

“Vance did some fellowship with our youth and fit in very well with them. He was just a nice, polite guy. Don Boelter was a great baseball coach and teacher. The family was well respected,” he said.

Freimark had no other comments on the alleged murders and shooting last weekend.

Officers found firearms in Boelter’s vehicle including semiautomatic and assault-style rifles and a large amount of ammunition, according to a federal criminal complaint.

“Vance Luther Boelter embarked on a planned campaign of stalking and violence, designed to inflict fear, injure and kill members of the Minnesota state legislature and their families,” read the complaint.

Boelter was arrested Sunday night in a field near his rural Green Isle home, ending the largest manhunt in state history.

Motivation for the shootings have not been officially confirmed.

Speaking on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing investigation, two law enforcement officials said an SUV that looked like a law enforcement vehicle was found near the Hortman home, according to the Associated Press.

The vehicle contained fliers for a local anti-Trump “No Kings” rally scheduled for last Saturday, a notebook with the names of lawmakers, abortion rights advocates and health care officials.

In custody, Boelter, 57, faces six federal charges including murder and stalking that could include the death penalty with a conviction. plus four state charges for murder and attempted murder. Specific charges and potential sentences are not publicly detailed yet.

Boelter was described as an evangelical missionary who preached in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in recent years, according to Christianity Today, a magazine founded by Billy Graham.

In a video of one of Boelter’s sermons said to be given at a DRC church, he told the audience “God is going to raise up apostles and prophets in America to correct his church.”

In federal court Monday, Boelter asked for a public defender and was appointed a federal defense attorney, pending an inquiry, after Boelter said he could not afford a private attorney. A combined preliminary and detention hearing was set for June 27.