Vance Boelter, suspect in Minnesota political killings, pleads guilty in federal case
Vance Boelter, the man charged in the attacks against Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota, changed his plea to guilty in his federal case on Thursday, according to the Department of Justice.
When Boelter admitted that he shot Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman several times and then put a gun to her head and killed her, sobs broke out in the courtroom, ABC Minneapolis affiliate KSTP reported.
Boelter pleaded guilty to all six counts: two stalking counts, two murder counts and two federal firearm-shooting offenses, the DOJ said.
"The terms of our offer to Mr. Boelter were: if you plead guilty and take consecutive life sentences, we will take the death penalty off the table," U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Daniel Rosen said at a news conference Thursday.
This week, a Justice Department spokesperson said federal prosecutors would not seek the death penalty because a federal judge ruled earlier this year in an unrelated murder case that interstate stalking charges do not rise to the level to support a capital crime.
"Political violence is a scourge in our nation," Rosen said in a statement. "We now expect Vance Boelter will spend the rest of his natural life in prison without parole."
"Today's guilty plea cannot return what was taken from these families, but it makes clear that anyone who chooses to bring this kind of violence to our communities will answer for that choice," ATF St. Paul Field Division Special Agent in Charge Joe Persails said in a statement.
The crimes unfolded on June 14, 2025, when Boelter disguised himself as a police officer and fatally shot Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, at their home, according to prosecutors.
That same day he drove to the home of Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman and shot the lawmaker and his wife, Yvette, and attempted to shoot their daughter, according to prosecutors.
John and Yvette Hoffman sat in the front row of the courtroom as Boelter admitted to firing multiple shots at them, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
The Hoffman family said in a statement on Thursday, "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 choice we've made is to go forward with public service and being present for our community," the family said. "The opportunity to justice is for Minnesotans and Americans to serve is to treat people with respect, to stop de-humanizing each other, and to stop dividing our country with hate and rhetoric.”
Following the attacks, police said they found a notebook in Boelter's abandoned, fake police car containing a list of elected officials who investigators suspect were targeted in a plot that the Minnesota U.S. attorney described at the time as the "stuff of nightmares."
Prosecutors said Boelter traveled to the homes of two other state lawmakers only to find no one at those locations.
Boelter has also pleaded not guilty to state charges. The Hennepin County Attorney's Office said Thursday that it will move forward with the state case. He faces charges of: two counts of first-degree premeditated murder, four counts of attempted first-degree murder, felony cruelty to an animal and impersonating a police officer, officials said.
