Vance Boelter Sentenced to Life Plus 40 Years for Killing Minnesota Speaker Melissa Hortman, Her Husband, and Shooting Sen. John Hoffman and His Wife

Vance Luther Boelter was sentenced Thursday to two consecutive life terms plus 40 years in prison for the June 14, 2025 attacks that killed former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and left state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, seriously wounded.

U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim handed down the sentence in Minneapolis, calling it "the longest sentence I have imposed after hearing thousands of cases over the years" but one he believes is deserved, according to Fox News.

Boelter, now 58 or 59 depending on the outlet (Fox News listed him at 58, the Guardian at 59), pleaded guilty last month to six counts tied to the killings and shootings. The plea deal let him avoid the death penalty in exchange for accepting the maximum sentence available short of execution, according to the Guardian.

What Happened That Night

Boelter admitted in court that he spent months identifying and stalking his targets before acting, according to both Fox News and the Guardian. Around 3:30 a.m. on June 14, 2025, he drove to the Hortmans' home disguised as a police officer, wearing a tactical uniform and mask, and shouted that he was law enforcement before opening fire, the Guardian reported.

He then went after Hoffman and his wife at their home in Champlin, according to CBS News. Boelter exchanged gunfire with police while fleeing on foot afterward, Fox News reported. The Guardian described it as the largest police search in Minnesota history.

The Victims Speak

John Hoffman told the court the attack was not impulsive and rejected any suggestion that Boelter's decades as a pastor should count in his favor. "Those were not impulsive acts," he said, according to CBS News. "You know them by their fruits."

Hoffman said he has nine bullet holes in his body and his wife has eight. He described permanent changes to how he sleeps, uses the bathroom, and uses his left arm, and said he can no longer play drums with the skill he once had. He and his family no longer receive mail at their house and have installed solid steel doors, a detail confirmed by both Fox News and CBS News.

Yvette Hoffman gave one of the most graphic accounts of the hearing. She told the court she fought Boelter "with everything I had" until she forced him out of the house, then collapsed near the laundry room. "I genuinely believed, your honor, I was dying," she said, according to CBS News. She said her daughter, Hope, screamed for her not to die.

Yvette Hoffman said her sense of safety is "shattered." She checks for the same cars parked outside before leaving her house, won't answer the front door unless she recognizes who's there, and now scans for exits everywhere she goes. She told the court Boelter was "a parasite who shot my husband" who ultimately "destroyed his own life," and said she hopes his body eventually leaves federal prison "in one of those body bags he intended for my family."

Hope Hoffman, the couple's daughter who witnessed the shooting, used her statement to criticize gaps in the mental health and gun-control systems that she said contributed to the attack, according to CBS News, and described Boelter as driven by a hate-fueled ideology.

Mark Hortman's family did not hold back either. His sister, Lisa Hortman Bean, said the sentence offers her no peace because Boelter will have "room and board provided for the rest of his life, paid for by my tax dollars," a line reported by both Fox News and the Guardian. The Guardian reported that Mark Hortman's father and siblings were angry Boelter would not face execution.

Boelter's Statement

Boelter apologized in court before sentencing. "To every person I have caused loss, pain, heartache, confusion, sadness, shame, or loneliness, I am truly sorry," he said, according to Fox News. The Guardian reported he sat still in orange prison garb and ankle shackles throughout the hearing and never looked at the survivors or family members as they spoke.

There is no dispute among these accounts about the sentence itself, the plea deal, or the core sequence of events. The outlets diverge only on minor details such as Boelter's exact age, which Fox News and the Guardian reported differently, and on how much of the victim testimony they included. CBS News and the Guardian carried the most extensive quotes from the Hoffman family; Fox News and the Washington Post offered shorter, more compressed accounts of the same facts.

The case functioned as a political assassination targeting elected Democratic officials, a fact all four sources treat as established given Boelter's guilty plea and the months of stalking he admitted to. None of the sources report any ongoing investigation into a broader network or additional suspects. Boelter's sentence is final. His attorneys have not signaled an appeal as of Thursday's hearing.