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MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (WCCO) — Vance Boelter, the man who admitted in court to shooting two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses, was sentenced to two life terms in prison followed by 40 years Thursday morning.
Judge John R. Tunheim said it was “the longest sentence I have imposed after hearing thousands of cases over the years, but it is well deserved.”
Boelter, who turns 59 Thursday, pleaded guilty to six federal charges against him in June. As part of his plea, he confessed to killing former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark and wounding Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette in a shooting that also targeted their daughter Hope.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced in June it would not seek the death penalty for Boelter.
In a pre-sentencing filing on Tuesday, prosecutors said, “Justice requires that Boelter never be free again.” Thursday’s sentence carries no possibility of parole.
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a statement following the sentencing, saying, “This murderer will spend the rest of his life behind bars for his heinous acts of violence against public servants and their families. … Our hearts remain with the victims’ families, loved ones, and all those whose lives were forever changed by these horrific attacks.”
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office previously said it plans to move forward with state charges against Boelter: two counts of first-degree premeditated murder, four counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count each of felony cruelty to an animal and impersonating an officer.
The Hoffman family is suing Boelter civilly, accusing him of assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and negligence per se, according to the complaint.
The June 14, 2025, shootings in the Twin Cities suburbs of Champlin and Brooklyn Park prompted a manhunt that lasted 43 hours and ended in rural Green Isle, Minnesota. Officials said the attacks were politically motivated.
In the most recent legislative session, Hortman’s colleagues approved a number of tributes to her, including a memorial garden for the State Office Building and the renaming of Highway 610 and Minnesota’s community solar garden program in her honor. Lawmakers also passed two measures championed by Hortman’s son Colin, which aim to ease the burdens on families following traumatic events.
Boelter speaks before sentencing
Boelter gave a brief statement to the court before being sentenced.
“To every person I have caused loss, pain, heartache, confusion, shame or loneliness, I am truly sorry,” he said.
Hortman children say they still think of parents’ murders daily
Sophie and Colin Hortman, children to Melissa and Mark, told the court the pain they experienced after Boelter killed their parents is unforgettable.
“What I cared about in my entire life had been shattered in 30 seconds,” Sophie Hortman said. “My parents were dead. The dog had been shot multiple times. My brother was wrecked.”
Colin Hortman said he lives with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“The blood that was spilled is the last thing I see before I fall asleep and the first thing I see as I wake,” he said, adding that when he pictures his parents, he sees “bullet holes.”
Both admitted no penalty would be fully satisfactory, but Colin Hortman asked for the maximum sentence with no possibility of release.
“Justice can never be served for those who lost,” Sophie Hortman said. “I miss my mom. I miss my dad. I miss my best friends. I miss believing in the goodness of humanity.”
Mark Hortman’s family expressed feeling robbed of seeing Boelter executed
In court, Mark Hortman’s father J. Carroll Hortman and brother Lee Hortman expressed the feeling of being robbed of seeing Boelter executed. J. Hortman called out Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche by name.
“He [Boelter] only killed Democrats, so Todd [Blanche] didn’t care,” J. Hortman said.
A spokesperson from Blanche’s office responded with a statement, inferring for the first time that prosecutors may not have been able to achieve the death penalty.
“Deciding whether to seek the death penalty is among the Attorney General’s most important and consequential responsibilities. Every case presents unique facts, circumstances, and legal considerations, and the views of victims’ families are always an important part of that assessment. But even when capital punishment may appear to be the just sentence, significant legal or evidentiary obstacles may leave no legally sustainable basis to seek it,” the spokesperson said.
On June 11, the day of Boelter’s plea hearing, U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Daniel Rosen did not discuss any legal obstacles when it came to the death penalty.
“This case as charged was certainly death penalty eligible and we would have prevailed in that ultimately in the courts. The truth is when you have a defendant who is prepared to plead guilty, take consecutive life terms plus, to ensure that he never sees freedom again in his entire life, that is an opportunity that we just could not pass up,” Rosen said that day. He was not in the courtroom for Boelter’s sentencing on Thursday.
Leaving the courthouse, Lee Hortman said he would have liked to see Boelter hanged.
Hoffmans recount horror of shooting, difficulty of aftermath
John Hoffman said he “returned to the Minnesota Senate because I refuse to allow violence to become the author of my future.”
Still, he said, his family lives “with a heightened awareness that enters every room before we do.”
“Our home no longer feels like the sanctuary it once was,” he said. “We installed solid steel doors and reinforced security. Your honor, those aren’t home improvements. They are daily reminders that violence followed us home.”
Yvette Hoffman said she “genuinely believed” she was dying after being shot.
“I’ll never forget looking down and watching my blood stream down that white washing machine as I felt myself sinking to the floor and fading,” she said.
“I came face to face with evil,” she later added. “I survived it. I will carry the memory of that day with me for the rest of my life.”
Hope Hoffman, whose father said her actions “helped save our lives and many others,” said she lives not only with the trauma caused by the attack, but that of the “bias and sensationalism” she endured from the media in the aftermath.
“In all reality, I’d like to just be a victim of gun violence who called 911. I really shouldn’t have to be advocating for that, but here we are,” she said.
Both Hope and Yvette Hoffman shared ill wishes for their attacker.
“Not only is he a criminal and a loser, he’s also the worst kind of father he could possibly be,” Hope Hoffman said. “I hope one day he miserably dies with that thought.”
“If I had a wish, it is when the defendant’s life ends, his body is carried out of federal prison in one of those body bags he intended for my family,” Yvette Hoffman said.
Fellow lawmakers say attacks shook, changed them
Before the sentencing, Rep. Kristin Bahner, who said Boelter also visited her home the night he shot the Hortmans and Hoffmans, gave an emotional victim impact statement.
“Nothing could prepare me for an assassin at my door,” Bahner said. “I never dreamt that doing the job that I love would put my family in harm’s way, forever shattering their innocence.”
Bahner told the judge, “I only want one thing. That neither courts nor you can give me, Mr. Boelter. I want Melissa back.”
Rep. Zack Stephenson, who took over as House DFL leader after Hortman’s killing, said Boelter’s actions “sent a message of terror to everyone who serves in public life,” but that “our caucus is stronger, more unified and even more dedicated to the values that Melissa and Mark lived their life by.”
“Melissa consistently acted the way every Minnesotan, every American, would hope their representative would act,” Stephenson said. “There has never been another Melissa Hortman and I doubt there ever will be.”
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