Vance Boelter gets 2 life terms and more in Minnesota lawmaker shootings

Vance Boelter, the man who admitted in court to shooting two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses, is set to learn his sentence Thursday morning.

Boelter, who turns 59 Thursday, pleaded guilty to six federal charges against him in June. As part of his plea, he confessed to killing former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark and wounding Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette in a shooting that also targeted their daughter Hope.

At a 10 a.m. hearing, Boelter is expected to receive two consecutive life sentences followed by 40 years, according to the terms of a plea deal. The U.S. Department of Justice announced in June it would not seek the death penalty for Boelter.

In a pre-sentencing filing on Tuesday, prosecutors said, “Justice requires that Boelter never be free again.”

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office previously said it plans to move forward with state charges against Boelter: two counts of first-degree premeditated murder, four counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count each of felony cruelty to an animal and impersonating an officer.

The Hoffman family is suing Boelter civilly, accusing him of assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and negligence per se, according to the complaint.

The June 14, 2025, shootings in the Twin Cities suburbs of Champlin and Brooklyn Park prompted a manhunt that lasted 43 hours and ended in rural Green Isle, Minnesota. Officials said the attacks were politically motivated.

In the most recent legislative session, Hortman’s colleagues approved a number of tributes to her, including a memorial garden for the State Office Building and the renaming of Highway 610 and Minnesota’s community solar garden program in her honor. Lawmakers also passed two measures championed by Hortman’s son Colin, which aim to ease the burdens on families following traumatic events.

Hoffman continues to serve in the state Legislature.

Before the sentencing, Rep. Kristin Bahner, who said Boelter also visited her home the night he shot the Hortmans and Hoffmans, gave an emotional victim impact statement.

“Nothing could prepare me for an assassin at my door,” Bahner said. “I never dreamt that doing the job that I love would put my family in harm’s way, forever shattering their innocence.”

Bahner told the judge, “I only want one thing. That neither courts nor you can give me, Mr. Boelter. I want Melissa back.”

Rep. Zack Stephenson, who took over as House minority leader after Hortman’s killing, said Boelter’s actions “sent a message of terror to everyone who serves in public life,” but that “our caucus is stronger, more unified and even more dedicated to the values that Melissa and Mark lived their life by.”

“Melissa consistently acted the way every Minnesotan, every American, would hope their representative would act,” Stephenson said. “There has never been another Melissa Hortman and I doubt there ever will be.”