A Minnesota court on Thursday sentenced Vance Boelter to two consecutive life sentences plus 40 years in prison for murdering former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband and wounding a state senator and his wife during a spree shooting.
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The hearing took place at the Minneapolis federal courthouse before U.S. District Judge John Tunheim.
Prosecutors described the June 14, 2025, attacks as targeted acts of political violence against Democratic lawmakers.
Judge Tunheim imposed the maximum term allowed under the plea deal and called it the longest sentence he has handed down after hearing thousands of cases, “but it is well deserved,” according to NewsNation.
BREAKING: Vance Boelter was sentenced Thursday to two consecutive life sentences plus 40 years after pleading guilty to stalking and shooting Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota last year. https://t.co/Xo2HLZy7fx pic.twitter.com/hPu7odLcfH
— ABC News (@ABC) July 23, 2026
Boelter briefly addressed the court and said, “To every person I have caused loss, pain, heartache, confusion, sadness, shame or loneliness, I am truly sorry,” according to ABC News.
U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen said before the sentencing, “Political violence is a scourge in our nation,” and, “We now expect Vance Boelter will spend the rest of his natural life in prison without parole,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota.
Survivors and family members delivered victim impact statements during the hearing. State Sen. John Hoffman told the court that Boelter looked him in the eyes and pulled the trigger, resulting in nine bullet holes in his body and eight in his wife’s.
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Yvette Hoffman said she came face to face with evil and that the attack destroyed her sense of safety. Colin Hortman, son of the slain couple, said his family went from whole to shattered in one night and lamented the reality that his mother will never bake him another cake.
Boelter was arrested after a two-day manhunt. He dressed up as a police officer to trick his victims into lowering their guards before opening fire.
Federal authorities indicted him in July 2025 on six counts that included stalking, murder through use of a firearm, and firearms offenses related to the attacks on the Hortmans and the Hoffmans.
He initially pleaded not guilty but he later changed his plea to guilty on all six federal charges as part of an agreement in which prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.
🚨 JUST IN: Tim Walz appointee Vance Boelter has been sentenced to TWO LIFE SENTENCES plus 40 years for the murder of Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman pic.twitter.com/sWf1qctooL
— Pastor Bob Joyce – Household Of Faith (@PastorBobJee) July 23, 2026
The plea agreement called for two consecutive life terms plus 40 years, the longest possible prison term under the law for the offenses. Judge Tunheim accepted the plea and set the sentencing hearing for July 23, 2026, which was also Boelter’s 59th birthday. State charges may still be in the offing, but the federal case resolved the primary murder and stalking counts.
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After arresting Boelter, investigators recovered several notebooks from his SUV containing handwritten lists of dozens of Minnesota state and federal elected officials—nearly all Democrats—along with many of their home addresses.
The lists also named abortion-rights advocates and providers. He had written notes expressing an intent to kill “as many lawmakers as possible” in order to shift the balance of power in the Minnesota legislature.
In the same vehicle, authorities found a stack of “No Kings” protest flyers and an unhinged handwritten letter in which Boelter confessed to the shootings while claiming (in what prosecutors called fantasy) that Governor Tim Walz had directed him to target Democratic senators.
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