The suspect in an alleged mass assassination plot admitted guilt on Thursday in the “stalking, shooting, and murdering” of a top Minnesota Democrat and her husband, along with an attack that wounded a second lawmaker and his wife.
Vance Luther Boelter’s change-of-plea in a Minneapolis federal courtroom came nearly a year after the fatal shootings of former Minnesota House speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, at their home.
During the early morning hours that same night, June 14, 2025, Boelter also targeted other public officials, including state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman, who survived multiple gunshots.
Boelter pleaded guilty to all counts, which include two stalking charges, two murders through use of a firearm, and two federal firearm-shooting offenses, the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release on June 11. Boelter had pleaded not guilty in August 2025.
Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen decried political violence in America, calling it a “scourge in our nation.” He also warned of the consequences for perpetrators.
“We now expect Vance Boelter will spend the rest of his natural life in prison without parole,” he said in the release. “To all of those who would commit political violence: this Justice Department will seek and obtain the longest prison terms for your offense.”
Officials didn’t specify how long Boelter’s sentence might be, but they pointed out that his plea agreement acknowledges he could face the maximum term the law allows. The sentencing date was not released.
Christopher Dotson, who heads the FBI’s Minneapolis office, said in the release that Boelter “thought he was above the law, above the Constitution, and that his personal views justified a violent crime spree unlike any other seen in Minnesota.”
Another top federal official, Joe Persalis, said, “The terror Vance Boelter set out to create reached far beyond the people he targeted and shook our entire Minnesota community.”
Persalis heads the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms field office in St. Paul, Minnesota. That agency joined the “urgent, around-the-clock effort to locate Boelter and to develop the investigative leads that helped bring him into custody,” he said in the release.
Prior to the shootings, “Boelter used GPS navigation systems, interstate wires, the Internet, and other interstate communication systems to plan and carry out a coordinated series of violent attacks targeting the Hortman and Hoffman families in Brooklyn Park and Champlin, Minnesota,” the latest news release said.
Authorities previously disclosed details of Boelter’s movements on the night of the Hortman and Hoffman shootings.
Wearing a silicone theatrical mask and driving a vehicle with a “POLICE” license plate, Boelter claimed to be a police officer as headed for his targets’ homes in four Minneapolis suburbs.
His first stop was at the Hoffmans’ home in Champlin, officials have said. The couple suffered a combined 17 gunshot wounds and spent weeks recovering in the hospital; both are expected to require medical care “indefinitely,” according to a civil lawsuit the Hoffmans filed against Boelter in April.
The Hoffmans’ adult daughter, Hope Hoffman, called 911 to report that her parents had been shot just after 2 a.m. Before fatally shooting the Hortman couple around 3:30 a.m., Boelter made unsuccessful attempts to encounter two other would-be victims, an affidavit says.
Minneapolis Interim Police Chief Bill Peterson said Boelter carried out “a heinous and unprecedented act of political violence against Minnesota’s political leaders.”
Multiple officials said cooperation among an array of local, state, and federal agencies culminated in the arrest and prosecution of Boelter.
Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said the strength of the evidence against Boelter “forced the guilty plea.”
“To the Hortman and Hoffman families, Minnesota continues to mourn the loss and the suffering you have endured. We hope today’s guilty plea brings you some measure of solace,” he said in the release.