By Joseph Ax
July 23 (Reuters) – The Minnesota man who pleaded guilty to assassinating a top Democratic lawmaker and attempting to murder another was set on Thursday to be sentenced to life in prison, 13 months after he disguised himself as a police officer and attacked the legislators at their homes.
Vance Boelter, 59, faces consecutive life sentences plus 40 years when he is sentenced in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. He pleaded guilty to six counts in June, including murder, stalking and gun-related charges, part of a plea deal that allowed him to avoid a potential death sentence.
Boelter, wearing a silicone mask, donned a police uniform and drove an SUV with a license plate that read, “Police,” as he carried out the late-night shootings on June 14, 2025.
After ringing the doorbell and gaining entry, Boelter fatally shot Melissa Hortman, the top Democrat in the Minnesota House of Representatives, and her husband Mark in their home. Earlier, he also shot and wounded state Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette at their home a few miles away.
He also visited the homes of two other lawmakers that night, authorities said, but no one answered the door at one house and Boelter left the other home when a police officer, believing him to be a fellow officer, approached his car.
Investigators found a list of more than 45 other Minnesota officials in his car. Law enforcement captured Boelter two days later after the largest manhunt in state history.
The shootings highlighted the spike in political violence that has hit the U.S. in recent years.
“Vance Boelter committed an assault on democracy,” federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum ahead of Thursday’s court proceeding. “It was an act of political violence that struck at the core of representative government.”
In a pre-sentencing memorandum, Boelter’s court-appointed defense lawyers asked the judge to send him to a federal prison in Florida and to allow him to work in prison and attend in-person programming, including therapy.
“Mr. Boelter knows expressing his remorse does not take away the pain he has caused,” the attorneys wrote. “But pleading guilty and agreeing to maximum penalties does show Mr. Boelter’s sincere remorse.”
(Reporting by Joseph AxEditing by Rod Nickel)
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