MINNEAPOLIS — Political assassin Vance Boelter will spend the rest of his life in federal prison for the targeted shootings of two DFL state lawmakers at their homes a year ago, crimes the prosecution said Thursday at his sentencing “are among the most serious ever committed in the state of Minnesota and the country.”

Boelter’s murder of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and attempted murders of Sen. John Hoffman and wife, Yvette, “were an assault on democracy, the worst form of political violence,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Forbes told Judge John Tunheim in an overflowing courtroom in Minneapolis.

Tunheim handed down two life prison sentences plus 40 years, saying it is the longest sentence he has imposed “after thousands of cases, and I do believe it is well deserved.”

“This was a brutal attack on elected public officials and their families, which is truly an attack on democracy itself,” Tunheim told Boelter, who turned 59 on Thursday. “The people of Minnesota are victims of your crimes, and our beloved state may never be the same.”

Still, Tunheim added: “Violence will never triumph over justice.”

John Hoffman told the court that Boelter, who impersonated a law enforcement officer, looked him and his wife in their eyes and repeatedly pulled the trigger.

“Nine bullet holes in my body, eight in hers,” he said. “Those were not impulsive acts; they were deliberate decisions made to end our lives.”

In exchange for pleading guilty last month, federal prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. Boelter agreed to the sentence he received.

Boelter “signed on the dotted line,” Manny Atwal, Boelter’s federal defender, said, referring to his plea agreement, “something he wanted to do last fall.”

“He cannot change what he’s done, but what he can do is show his remorse by accepting his responsibility,” Atwal said.

Before hearing his sentence, Boelter, clad in an orange jail uniform, walked slowly to the lectern and read a brief statement.

“To every person I have caused loss, pain, heartache, confusion, sadness, shame or loneliness, I am truly sorry,” Boelter said.

Boelter’s motivation for the June 14, 2025, shootings was political, Forbes said.

“He was consumed with those he disagreed with,” he said. “In this case, it was Democrats.”

Boelter’s internet and text-message history showed he knew the Legislature “was so closely divided that by killing four state legislators, the inevitable result would be a shift in the balance of power in both legislative houses,” prosecutors wrote in a presentencing memo.

Two days before the shootings, Boelter went online and viewed a map of the State Capitol grounds where a “No Kings” protest was scheduled to be held the day of the shootings.

Less than 11 hours before arriving at the Hoffmans’ home in Champlin, Boelter sent his family a long, rambling text message about politics and how Democrats were opposed to President Donald Trump’s stance on Iran, the war in Ukraine, theft of government funds, immigration policy, judicial integrity and election integrity, according to prosecutors.

“This isn’t about Vance Boelter’s views or his affiliation or why he didn’t like Democrats or his view about any political point,” Forbes said at sentencing. “This is about Vance Boelter’s decision to use violence to affect change on those issues.”

At his June 11 plea hearing, Boelter admitted to several new details that previously were not released, including that he murdered Melissa Hortman in her Brooklyn Park home by pressing a 9mm handgun to her head and firing as she tried to escape upstairs.

“She had something like 15 gunshots, with one final shot to her head,” her son Colin Hortman told the court Thursday. “We all pray that she died immediately.”

Boelter admitted to driving to the homes of four lawmakers in the morning hours of June 14, 2025, in a black Ford Explorer SUV designed to look like a law enforcement vehicle, and that he carried out the shootings of the Hoffmans and Hortmans while wearing a mask and dressed as a law enforcement officer.

Just before 2 a.m., he pounded on the Hoffmans’ front door, identified himself multiple times as police and shouted, “This is the police, open the door.” When the senator answered the door with his wife and their adult daughter, Hope, Boelter said that a shooting had been reported and asked if they had any guns. Boelter, who was wearing a “hyper-realistic silicone mask,” then told them they were being robbed, and pointed a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun at them.

John Hoffman attempted to push Boelter backward through the front doorway and Yvette tried to close the door. Boelter drew a 9mm and repeatedly fired at the couple. Hope, who narrowly missed being struck by the gunfire, called 911.

“I fought him, Your Honor, with everything that I had,” Yvette said in court Thursday, “and I finally got him out of our home, and collapsed. … I genuinely believed, Your Honor, I was dying.”

According to the criminal complaint, law enforcement started responding to north Hennepin County legislators’ homes.

Boelter had a list of addresses for Democratic elected officials and abortion providers in his SUV, and visited the homes of Rep. Kristin Bahner, DFL-Maple Grove, and Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope. Bahner was not home at the time, and Boelter left Rest’s street after a police officer arrived.

“I never imagined that doing the job that I love would put my family in harm’s way,” Bahner said in court Thursday.

Boelter admitted that he arrived at the Hortman home about 3:30 a.m., and parked in the driveway with police-style emergency lights flashing.

He rang the doorbell, while wearing a brown wig and a mask. He shouted, “Police, welfare check.” When Mark Hortman answered the door, Boelter shined a flashlight into his eyes and said there had been shots fired. Hortman said he had been asleep and didn’t know anything about a shooting.

Boelter asked who else was home and Hortman said his wife was also there. Boelter said, “I need to see her before I go.” Hortman called for Melissa, then asked Boelter to give his name, badge number and the law enforcement agency that he was with.

Boelter admitted that he hesitated and said, “Uh, Maple Grove.” He then immediately drew a 9mm handgun and fired at Mark Hortman six times, hitting him in the side and back as he turned away. He rushed into the home and repeatedly shot Melissa Hortman.

The gunfire also struck the Hortmans’ dog, Gilbert, who was later euthanized.

Boelter fired the shots moments after Brooklyn Park officers arrived at the front of the home to check on the lawmaker. He ran from the home through a back door, and eluded capture.

Once Boelter was out of the Hortmans’ neighborhood, he bought a cowboy hat at a Brooklyn Center gas station to disguise himself, then went back to a north Minneapolis house where he rented a room. He grabbed his laptop computer and cellphone, then sent text messages to his family, “apologizing in general terms for what he had done the night before,” prosecutors said.

A manhunt was coordinated among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies across Minnesota, in what prosecutors have called the largest search for a suspect in the state’s history.

About 9:15 p.m. the next day, law enforcement located Boelter in a field in Green Isle, approximately one mile from his family residence, and he was taken into custody.

Bahner gave the first victim impact statement in court Thursday, saying she feels grief for the Hortmans’ two children and that she “cannot fathom why I was spared.”

Melissa Hortman led with kindness and compassion and “grounded us in the toughest of times to get the job done. She lifted us up.”

Boelter failed in his mission, she said.

“You did not kill me or my family, you did not kill John or Yvette … you failed in your objective, you failed because the people you took from us were exemplary humans.”

House DFL Leader Zack Stephenson called Melissa Hortman the “most consequential Speaker of the House in Minnesota history, a brilliant legislator and a policy expert” who was not interested in attention even if others around her demanded it.

“She cared deeply about everyone she worked with, no matter their political views,” he said.

He also said Boelter failed.

“He hoped that we would retreat, but our commitment to the people of Minnesota is bigger than the fear that he caused,” he said.

Hoffman said he and his wife are reminded every day of the shootings by the injuries and trauma that still affect them.

Hoffman said the actions of their daughter Hope — coming to their aid and calling 911 — “helped save our lives, and many others.”

Hope Hoffman told the court she didn’t want to give Boelter the satisfaction to “revel in the harm that he caused.”

“It’s apparent he was in some sort of political psychosis, fueled by hate,” she said.

Mark Hortman’s father, J. Carroll Hortman, said his son grew up in a happy and loving home in Raleigh, North Carolina, and went on to create a loving and happy home, along with Melissa.

“(Boelter) charged into that peaceful home,” he said.

He said the family was deprived of a trial “that we deserve, that would have brought up facts that we deserve” and that he was blown off by acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche when he called to talk about a death penalty for the murders.

He said he wanted to see Boelter executed, “but Todd Blanche deprived me of that.”

Harold Haluptzok, Melissa’s father, said “the pain is so deep.”

“This was my little girl,” he said. “And her husband, Mark, was one of the most wonderful guys in the world.”

Boelter “is an evil person,” he said. “The pain he caused will live on in thousands of people in years and years to come.”

Alina Bachman Hortman, Colin’s wife, spoke about how they got married in December “with two empty seats in the front row.”

“It’s hard to talk about our future,” she said. “Everything is a reminder of what was taken away from us.”

Sophie Hortman told the court she thought a lot about what she wanted to say and decided to share her feelings about Gilbert, the family’s golden retriever. She said on the day of the shootings, before he was euthanized at the vet hospital, she rested her face next to his and they looked at each other. She held him.

“Justice cannot be served for those we loved,” she said. “I miss my mom. I miss my dad. I miss my best friend. And I miss believing in the good of humanity.”

Colin Hortman said it hurts thinking that his mother’s final moments were seeing her husband being shot, hearing his cries of pain.

He said it hurts knowing that he won’t be able to brew beer with his father again, and that his mother didn’t bake his wedding cake, which was his one wish.

“They would have been the best grandparents,” he said.

Boelter still faces charges in Hennepin County District Court in connection with the shootings, including first-degree premeditated murder, which carries mandatory life in prison without the possibility of parole.

That case has been on hold pending the resolution of the federal charges, but the attorney’s office said Thursday Boelter’s first appearance in state court is scheduled for Aug 3.

“The targeted political violence he committed was horrific,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement. “My thoughts are with Melissa and Mark’s family, as well as John, Yvette, and Hope, as the state prosecution moves forward.”

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