MINNEAPOLIMEDIA NEWS | Vance Boelter Sentenced to Two Consecutive Life Terms Plus 40 Years for Lawmaker Attacks

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (July 24, 2026). Vance Luther Boelter will spend the remainder of his life in federal prison for the calculated attacks that killed former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and wounded state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.

U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim sentenced Boelter, 58, on Thursday to two consecutive life sentences followed by a consecutive 40-year term.

Boelter previously pleaded guilty to six federal offenses, including stalking resulting in death, murder through the use of a firearm and discharging a firearm during crimes of violence.

Federal prosecutors said Boelter acted alone, researched the people he planned to target and used disguises, firearms and law-enforcement-style equipment to gain access to their homes.

The attacks occurred during the early morning of June 14, 2025.

Hoffmans confronted attacker in Champlin

Boelter first went to the Champlin home of Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, while impersonating a police officer.

He shot John and Yvette Hoffman multiple times. Both survived serious injuries. Their daughter, Hope, was inside the home and called for assistance.

Boelter later went to the Brooklyn Park home of Melissa and Mark Hortman, where he fatally shot the couple.

The attacks initiated what authorities described as Minnesota’s largest manhunt. Boelter was arrested the following night near his home in Green Isle.

Family describes continuing consequences

Members of the Hoffman family addressed the court before Boelter was sentenced. Their statements described lasting physical injuries, emotional trauma and the effect of the attack on their family.

The deaths of Melissa and Mark Hortman deprived their children of both parents and shook Minnesota’s government and political community.

“No sentence can restore the lives he took, heal those he wounded or undo what these families endured,” Acting Special Agent in Charge Spence Burnett of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said in the Justice Department’s sentencing announcement.

Champlin Police Chief Glen Schneider said the sentence provided accountability for crimes that caused profound personal harm and damaged public trust because Boelter had presented himself as a police officer.

Investigators say political violence targeted democracy

The Justice Department described the attacks as political violence directed at elected public officials and their families.

U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen said the federal sentence ensures Boelter will never leave prison and warned that authorities would pursue the longest available sentences against people who commit political violence.

The investigation involved the FBI, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, ATF, Brooklyn Park Police Department, Champlin Police Department, Minneapolis Police Department, Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and New Hope Police Department.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office has also pursued state charges. The federal sentence represents the most consequential resolution so far, but it does not automatically terminate separate state proceedings.

News Sources

U.S. Department of Justice, District of Minnesota
CBS Minnesota
KARE 11

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