Vance Boelter to appear in federal court in Minnesota lawmaker shootings

Sarah Nelson, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Feb 20, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

MINNEAPOLIS — Vance Boelter, the man accused in the shootings of two state lawmakers and their families last summer, is due in federal court Friday morning.

Boelter faces six federal charges connected to the June 14 shootings that killed Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and injured state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their homes. The indictment alleges he disguised himself as a police officer when he knocked on their doors in the middle of the night. After a manhunt that lasted more than 40 hours, he was arrested near his Green Isle home.

The hearing is the first proceeding without lead federal prosecutor Harry Jacobs, who is among several people who resigned from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota in mid-January. The office has since lost more than a dozen attorneys and staff over concerns of directives from the Justice Department under the Trump administration.

At Boelter’s last hearing in November, prosecutors said they had not yet decided whether to pursue the death penalty in the case. Two of the charges carry the possibility of a death sentence if convicted. U.S. Magistrate Judge Dulce Foster asked the attorneys to provide an update on that decision at Friday’s hearing.

His federal defenders also asked for more time to review the abundance of photographic and video evidence in the case.

Friday’s hearing is set for 10 a.m.

-------------