MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA — Vance Boelter pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the killings of Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman. He also pleaded guilty to federal charges connected to the shooting of Minnesota state lawmaker John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman.
Boelter, 58, committed the shootings on June 14, 2025. He approached both residences disguised as a law enforcement officer while driving a counterfeit patrol vehicle. Federal prosecutors classified these incidents as acts of political violence.
The U.S. Department of Justice will not seek the death penalty against Boelter under a plea agreement. Assistant U.S. attorneys Bradley M. Endicott and Matthew D. Forbes wrote in a court filing, "The Attorney General has authorized and directed the government not to seek the death penalty against Defendant Vance Luther Boelter in accordance with the terms delineated in a proposed plea agreement." Federal prosecutors requested a sentence of two life terms and an additional 40 years for Boelter. Minnesota abolished capital punishment in 1911.
Law enforcement captured Boelter on June 15, 2025, near his residence in Green Isle, Minnesota. Prosecutors released a handwritten letter from Boelter addressed to FBI Director Kash Patel, in which Boelter confessed to the shootings.
Boelter faces separate state charges including premeditated murder, attempted murder, cruelty to an animal, and impersonating an officer. Federal proceedings take legal precedence over these parallel state charges. A Department of Justice spokesperson stated that the stalking charges in the case do not meet the federal legal definition of a crime of violence.
The Hortmans' golden retriever, Gilbert, was euthanized after sustaining injuries during the incident. A civil lawsuit filed by John Hoffman states he will likely never fully recover his left arm and hand, and sustained permanent digestive and urinary system damage. The same civil lawsuit states Yvette Hoffman sustained permanent physical weakness, and their daughter Hope experienced psychological trauma after calling emergency services during the attack.