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Minnesota native Vance Boelter pleaded guilty on Thursday to federal charges in connection with last year’s targeted shootings of two Democratic state politicians and their spouses.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minneapolis notified the court on Wednesday that the Justice Department would not seek the death penalty against Boelter, in accordance with a proposed plea agreement reached to avoid trial.
Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman, were shot at their residence by a man who came to their house in the early hours of June 14, 2025, disguised as a police officer and driving a fake squad car.
Less than two hours later, Melissa Hortman — who had only recently stepped down as Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives — was killed along with her her husband, Mark Hortman, at their suburban home. The Hortmans’ golden retriever had to be euthanized after suffering injuries.
Boelter, 58, was captured two days later near his rural home in what officials said was the largest search for a suspect in Minnesota history.
He had visited at least one other property belonging to an elected official between the shootings but left, The Associated Press has previously reported.
The six counts Boelter pleaded guilty to included two for murder, two for firearms violations — in connection with the shooting of the Hoffmans — and two counts of stalking.
Boelter repeatedly said a simple “Yes” as his federal defence lawyer questioned him about his actions, including whether he pressed a gun to Melissa Hortman’s head and fired.
Boelter followed along as U.S. District Judge John Tunheim spoke about each of the six charges and the potential sentences they carried. Tunheim did not set a date for sentencing. According to local media reports, the plea deal will see Boelter serve two life sentences in prison.
Minnesota abolished capital punishment in 1911 and has never had a federal death penalty case. Daniel Borgertpoepping, a spokesperson for the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, said ahead of the sentencing that the federal plea deal would not affect Boelter’s state charges.
Prosecutors have called the shootings political. When they announced the federal indictment in July, they released a rambling handwritten letter they say Boelter wrote to FBI director Kash Patel in which he confessed to the attacks.
In some messages to the media, Boelter referred to a vague and cryptic “investigation” he had been carrying out, sometimes suggesting it was about the COVID-19 vaccine.
Friends described Boelter as an evangelical Christian and occasional preacher and missionary who held politically conservative views and had been struggling to find work.
Life-altering injuries for surviving politician
Both John and Yvette Hoffman were in the courtroom Thursday.
John Hoffman said in a lawsuit filed against Boelter in April that his left arm and hand would likely 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.
The shootings of Hortman and Hoffman were among a number of incidents in the past few years where politicians and public officials have been targeted at their homes.
A Canadian man who overstayed his U.S. visa in 2022 targeted former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was not at her San Francisco residence at the time. Instead, Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, was viciously attacked and suffered serious injuries, leading to a life sentence in prison for the defendant.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was the target of a planned 2022 attack by a California resident who travelled across country to the conservative justice’s Maryland residential street, then called a relative and surrendered before violence ensued. The defendant was sentenced to more than eight years in prison.
A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty to an assortment of arson and other charges after the official governor’s residence occupied by Democrat Josh Shapiro was breached in 2025, leading to a prison sentence of at least 25 years.
