Vance Boelter

On June 14, 2025, Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman was assassinated in a shooting at her home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, United States. Hortman, the leader of the state house Democratic caucus, was killed alongside her husband, Mark. Earlier that morning, state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were shot in their home in nearby Champlin, and were hospitalized. Police responding to the attack on the Hoffmans checked on the Hortmans' home, where a man believed to be the attacker fired at them. The shooter escaped the scene, sparking the largest manhunt in Minnesota history.

The authorities identified 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter as a suspect and captured him a day later in the evening in Green Isle, Minnesota. He was federally charged with murder, stalking, and firearms offenses. The state charged Boelter with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder, but Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced her intention to upgrade the charges to first-degree murder before a grand jury.

John Hoffman is a member of the state's Democratic Party–affiliated Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, as was Melissa Hortman. Police believe the shootings were politically motivated and are investigating whether the shooter was motivated by anti-abortion views. Inside of the suspect's vehicle was a target list of nearly 70 people including abortion rights advocates, Democratic politicians, and abortion providers.

The shootings illustrate that there are and have been increasing threats and political violence committed or attempted against state and national lawmakers in the United States since 2017. The suspect had lists of 11 data broker websites, with home addresses and other personal information of individuals widely available online. The events have led to more calls to reform American privacy laws.

Events

It is believed that the victims were stalked through various data broker websites. The events led to calls to reform American privacy laws. Senator Ron Wyden warned that "Every single American's safety is at risk until Congress cracks down on this sleazy industry."

According to federal prosecutors, Boelter arrived at the Hoffman residence shortly before 2 a.m. CDT ( UTC−5) on June 14, 2025. He knocked on the door, shouting that he was a police officer. As the Hoffmans opened the door, he asked if they had weapons. John Hoffman shouted "You're not a cop" and attempted to push Boelter out the door; Boelter said "this is a robbery" and repeatedly shot both of them repeatedly. At 2:06 a.m., police in Champlin, Minnesota, responded to an emergency call from the Hoffmans' daughter; they found Hoffman and his wife Yvette injured by gunshot wounds. John Hoffman was shot nine times, while Yvette was shot eight times. According to their nephew, Yvette was shot while shielding her daughter from the shooter.

The acting United States Attorney for Minnesota, Joseph H. Thompson, said that Boelter went to two other homes after leaving the Hoffman residence. Boelter first went to state representative Kristin Bahner's house in Maple Grove, where he knocked on the door. Bahner, on vacation with her family, was not at home and Boelter left. Next, he parked near the residence of state senator Ann Rest in New Hope. At 2:36 a.m. while Boelter was parked, a police officer had an encounter with him; the officer, believing him to be a colleague who had been sent to check on the senator, attempted to talk to him, but he did not respond. The officer went to Rest's house. Boelter then left New Hope and went to the Hortman residence in Brooklyn Park.

Two Brooklyn Park police officers, alerted by their colleagues in Champlin to the shooting, proactively went to check on the Hortmans. They arrived at the Hortman home at 3:35 a.m. and saw what appeared to be a police vehicle in the driveway; Mark Bruley, the Brooklyn Park chief of police, said the vehicle "looked exactly like an SUV squad car".

As the officers arrived at the residence, they witnessed a person who was later described as wearing a hyper realistic rubber mask (an old man disguise), a full police uniform (including body armor), a badge, and standard police gear. The attacker drew his gun and shot at the officers, and they returned fire. The attacker retreated into the house and the officers witnessed the attacker shoot Mark Hortman through the open door of the house. The police moved Mark Hortman from the threshold of the home and he was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. A drone was then used to enter the residence, where Melissa Hortman's body was found. More officers were called to the scene, surrounding the house, and a SWAT team arrived. However the suspect escaped the police on foot after exchanging gunfire.

Victims

State representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were killed. Hortman, who was first elected in 2005, served as the state house minority leader from 2017 to 2019 and as the 61st speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2019 to 2025. State senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were shot but survived and were out of surgery by 9:50 a.m that day. Hoffman, first elected in 2012, served as minority whip from 2017 to 2020. Senator Hoffman and Representative Hortman were members of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, the Democratic Party's affiliate in the state.

Accused

Vance Luther Boelter (born July 23, 1967) was identified as the suspect by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Career

Boelter worked in the food service industry, reportedly having been a general manager of a 7-Eleven. After getting an undergraduate degree in international relations in his 20s, he went back to school and earned a master’s degree and then a doctorate in leadership from the now-closed Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. On Boelter's social media accounts, he claimed to have had military training and a career in private security, but National Public Radio could find "no history working in law enforcement, the military or private security". A friend of his said Boelter made various claims about his life that were "fantasy". His private security company, Praetorian Guard Security Services, was registered with the state to his home address and listed him as director of security patrol, though there is no record the company had ever had any clients. The company said they have a fleet of "police type vehicles"—the same SUVs police use.

Boelter's LinkedIn profile claimed that he had been the CEO of a company called Red Lion Group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). According to ''Forbes'', he had financial problems since beginning the business in the DRC. He and his wife ran an evangelical non-profit called Revoformation Ministries where he claimed to have "sought out militant Islamists" in the West Bank and Gaza during the Second Intifada "to share the gospel and tell them that violence wasn't the answer". He preached more than once in a church in the DRC, speaking against abortion rights and transgender people. Boelter also appeared as a speaker at a 2022 seminar about trade and investment which was organized by Minnesota Africans United, a nonprofit for African immigrants in Minnesota. In 2016, he was appointed to the Governor's Workforce Development Board, a 60-member unpaid advisory board by then-Governor of Minnesota Mark Dayton, and re-appointed for a four-year term in 2019 by the governor, Tim Walz.

Motive

Law enforcement believes the shootings were politically motivated and is investigating whether the shooter was motivated by anti-abortion views. Boelter was registered to vote as a Republican in the early 2000s, though on a state document in 2019 he wrote that he had "no party preference". A friend of Boelter's said after the attacks that Boelter was "a conservative who voted for President Donald Trump and was strongly against abortion rights".

The vehicle left in the driveway of the Hortman home contained a list of about 70 potential targets, including "abortion providers, pro-abortion rights advocates, and lawmakers in Minnesota and other states". Hortman and Hoffman's names appeared on the list alongside Walz, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, U.S. Rep Hillary Scholten, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin,, and Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison. On the day of the shooting, Boelter sent friends a text, writing, "I love you guys. I've made some choices, and you guys don't know anything about this, but I'm going to be gone for a while. I may be dead shortly." The police found AK-style firearms in his vehicle; the police later stated that he was believed to be armed only with a pistol. Officers discovered a stack of flyers in his car for "No Kings" anti-Trump protests which were to be held on the day of the shooting.

Manhunt and arrest

Local authorities, with the assistance of federal law enforcement, launched a manhunt to find the shooter. A shelter-in-place order was issued in Brooklyn Park. Due to the suspect's impersonation of a police officer, residents were advised not to open the door to police unless two officers were present. The FBI offered a reward of $50,000 for information leading to his capture. Images of Boelter were released showing him wearing a light-colored cowboy hat, dark long-sleeved shirt or jacket, light-colored pants, and dark sneakers.

Federal charging documents indicated that Boelter returned to an apartment in which he occasionally lived in Minneapolis in the early morning, and then approached a stranger at a bus stop around 7 a.m. The other man, who later reported the interaction to the police, agreed to sell Boelter his e-bike and Buick automobile, and the two went to a bank branch for cash to complete the transaction.

After the shootings, Boelter sent messages to his wife and other relatives stating, "Dad went to war last night" and "I don't want you guys around". Boelter's wife was subsequently detained and interrogated by law enforcement at 10:00 a.m., on the day of the shootings. Police, tracking her via her cellphone, had pulled her over with several of the couple's children during a traffic stop in Onamia, Minnesota. Law enforcement searched her car and allegedly found a weapon, ammunition, approximately $10,000 in cash and passports for herself and the children, though not for Boelter.

Early on Sunday, June 15, police located the Buick believed to have been used by Boelter in Sibley County, Minnesota, a few miles from his home in Green Isle. Belongings of Boelter's were found as well. On the same day, a resident in the area captured images of Boelter on a trail camera. Officers set up a square-mile search perimeter deploying drones and police dogs. Using the drones they were able to locate him and tracked him as he crawled through thick shrubs. Later that evening, Boelter was arrested in a field, roughly southwest of Minneapolis. His capture ended a nearly two-day manhunt involving hundreds of officers and 20 SWAT teams. Officials said that the search was the largest manhunt in Minnesota history.

Boelter was initially charged by Brooklyn Park police with two counts of second-degree murder in the killings of former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, and two counts of attempted second-degree murder related to the shootings of Senator John Hoffman and his wife. He later appeared in federal court on June 16, 2025, where he was federally charged with two counts of murder with a firearm, two additional counts of firearms offenses, and two counts of stalking. During the appearance, he was taken into federal custody, where he will remain until at least his next court appearance on June 27, 2025.

Aftermath

In response to the shooting, the Governor's office activated the State Emergency Operations Center. "No Kings" protests opposing the U.S. Army 250th Anniversary Parade, as well as the policies and actions of the second presidency of Donald Trump, were planned for that day. A spokesperson for the Minnesota State Patrol asked the public not to attend the protests planned for that day "out of an abundance of caution". The Minnesota "No Kings" organizers canceled all protests, though thousands later attended a rally in St. Paul.

In Washington, D.C., House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries requested that the Sergeant at Arms of the United States House of Representatives and the Capitol Police "ensure the safety of our Minnesota delegation and members of Congress across the country".

Responses

The shootings occurred amid a context of increasing threats and political violence against state and national lawmakers in the United States since 2017.

Local

At a press conference with law enforcement, Minnesota Governor Walz described Hortman as "someone who served the people of Minnesota with grace, compassion, humor and a sense of service" and called the shooting "an act of targeted political violence". United States senator from Minnesota Amy Klobuchar, who knew Hortman, said she was "heartbroken and horrified" and noted a "through line of abortion" as the motive.

Tom Emmer, who represents Minnesota's 6th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives, condemned the apparent act of political violence. Ken Martin, the chair of the Democratic National Committee and a former chair of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, called the shootings indicative of "extremism and political violence" in the US. Mark Johnson, the minority leader of the Minnesota Senate, represented Senate Republicans in condemning "this brazen act of violence". Minnesota house speaker Lisa Demuth said she was "shocked and horrified", sending prayers to the victims and law enforcement.

National

Trump administration

President Donald Trump said that the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were investigating the shooting, and said that the "horrific violence will not be tolerated"; Attorney General of the United States Pam Bondi said it "will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law". FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino announced that the "FBI is fully engaged on the ground in Minnesota and is working in collaboration with our local and state partners". Governor Walz expressed to Vice President JD Vance his "appreciation for the ongoing coordination".

United States Congress

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson called the shooting "horrific political violence" that "every leader must unequivocally condemn"; Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer condemned the attack. Senator Ron Wyden warned that "Every single American's safety is at risk until Congress cracks down on this sleazy industry."

Minnesota United States Senator Amy Klobuchar called the shooting an act of targeted political violence and an attack on American democracy. Former United States representative Gabby Giffords, the target of an assassination attempt in 2011, was "horrified and heartbroken" by the attack. US representative and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose husband was injured in a politically motivated home invasion in 2022, condemned the "abhorrent manifestation of political violence in our country". The day after the attack, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, "This should be another wakeup call amongst many that have happened over the last several years, including, of course, the violent attack on the Capitol that took place on January 6". Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, whose residence was firebombed two months earlier, said he was pained by the shootings.

Misinformation

United States senator Mike Lee of Utah tweeted the CCTV photo of the suspect in the mask on his personal account with the caption "This is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way" and added "Nightmare on Waltz Street" in a separate message, drawing condemnation and calls for his resignation. He then tweeted hours later on his official Senate Twitter account, "These hateful attacks have no place in Utah, Minnesota, or anywhere in America. Please join me in condemning this senseless violence, and praying for the victims and their families." Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno also used Twitter to falsely suggest the shooter was a far-left extremist.

See also

* List of assassinated American politicians
* Political polarization in the United States

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shootings of Minnesota legislators, 2025
2025 in Minnesota
Minnesota legislators
Attacks on residential buildings in the United States
Brooklyn Park, Minnesota
Legislators
Failed assassination attempts in the United States
Hennepin County, Minnesota
Incidents of violence against women
Minnesota legislators
Manhunts
Legislators
Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party
Murder in Minnesota
Political history of Minnesota
Political violence in the United States
Shootouts in the United States
Minnesota legislators
Violence against women in Minnesota