Man pleads guilty to killing a top Minnesota Democrat and her husband
while posing as an officer
[June 12, 2026]
By TIM SULLIVAN and HANNAH FINGERHUT
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man who pleaded guilty Thursday to
killing a top Democratic lawmaker and her husband admitted he spent
months identifying elected officials to target and stalked them before
driving to their homes in the middle of the night, dressed as a police
officer, with the intention of killing them.
The Minneapolis-area attacks last summer by Vance Boelter, 58, sparked
the largest police search in state history and reverberated across the
country, with elected officials fearing that escalating threats and
polarization could lead to more violence. Boelter pleaded guilty so that
federal prosecutors would not seek the death penalty; instead, he agreed
to serve two consecutive life sentences, plus 40 years.
Boelter, disguised in a tactical uniform and realistic mask, parked his
police-style SUV with emergency flashing lights in the driveway of House
Speaker Melissa Hortman's home at around 3:30 a.m. on June 14, 2025. He
rang the doorbell, shouting: “Police, welfare check,” according to a
plea agreement made public Thursday. Mark Hortman, her husband, answered
the door.
Mark Hortman told Boelter that his wife was also in the home, and
Boelter said he'd need to see her before he could leave, according to
the plea agreement. When Mark Hortman asked, Boelter gave him a fake
name and badge number and, when Hortman followed up for his
jurisdiction, Boelter hesitated before naming a different Minneapolis
suburb, the agreement states. Boelter then immediately took out his gun
to shoot Hortman multiple times, according to the agreement.
Boelter then “rushed forward through the front door into the home” and
shot Melissa Hortman repeatedly “as she attempted to flee upstairs,”
according to the plea agreement. Both Melissa and Mark Hortman were
killed.
Boelter had already been to the home of state Sen. John Hoffman that
night, shooting and critically injuring him and his wife, Yvette, while
their daughter was nearby.
There were brief sobs from the courtroom gallery Thursday where family
members of the Hortmans sat alongside John and Yvette Hoffman as the
attacks were described in detail. Again and again Boelter simply said
“yes,” as his attorney questioned him about his actions, including
whether he pressed a pistol to Melissa Hortman’s head and fired.
U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen told reporters after the hearing that the
death penalty was only taken off the table after Boelter agreed to the
longest possible prison sentence for the six federal charges.
“Political violence is a scourge plaguing America,” Rosen said. “Those
that would commit political violence at any level should take heed: the
Justice Department will seek and obtain the longest prison terms
available for your crimes.”
A statement posted on John Hoffman's Facebook page said there is no
justice for the Hortmans, and “there is not justice when our family and
our state will never truly heal. While the legal process may provide
accountability, true healing requires something more from all of us."
The statement called on Minnesotans and Americans to “treat people with
respect, to stop de-humanizing each other, and to stop dividing our
country with hate and rhetoric.”
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A photo of Mark and Melissa Hortman is displayed during their
funeral service inside the sanctuary at the Basilica of St. Mary's
in Minneapolis on June 28, 2025. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP,
Pool, File)
Boelter also faces state charges, including two counts of murder and
four counts of attempted murder as well as charges of impersonating
a police officer and animal cruelty. The Hortman family’s golden
retriever was gravely injured in the shootings and had to be
euthanized. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said Thursday that
the federal plea agreement does not affect the state's case, which
had been on hold pending the resolution of the federal case.
Boelter also stopped outside the homes of two other lawmakers in the
Minneapolis suburbs that night. At one, he knocked but no one
answered. At the other, he was apparently frightened away when a
police officer, believing he was a fellow officer, approached him as
he sat in his vehicle.
Boelter, wearing his orange jail sweatshirt and sweatpants as he sat
in the courtroom between two of his attorneys, listened closely as
U.S. District Judge John Tunheim talked through each of the six
charges and their maximum sentences. Tunheim accepted the guilty
pleas and said he would set a date soon for sentencing.
Boelter was captured near his home in rural Green Isle, about an
hour's drive from Minneapolis, the day after the shootings, which
prosecutors have said were politically motivated but which remain in
many ways unexplained.
“Dad went to war last night,” Boelter messaged his family that
morning. “Words are not going to explain how sorry I am.”
Boelter, an evangelical Christian with politically conservative
views who had traveled to Congo as a preacher and missionary, spent
much of his life in the food service industry. He had been
struggling to earn a living before the shootings, after the failure
of a security company he'd founded.
John Hoffman said in a lawsuit filed against Boelter in April that
his left arm and hand likely would never fully recover and that he
also had permanent injuries to his digestive and urinary systems.
Yvette Hoffman was left with permanent physical weakness, the
lawsuit said, while their adult daughter, Hope Hoffman, who was
there and called 911 but was not shot, suffered severe psychological
trauma.
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Fingerhut reported from Des Moines, Iowa.
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