Minnesota man gets life sentence for killing state lawmaker and her husband

A Minnesota man who killed a state lawmaker and her husband was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday, US media reported.

Vance Boelter, 59, shot people at the homes of two Democratic members of the Minnesota state legislature on June 14, 2025, while disguised as a police officer. State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were killed. State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were seriously wounded.

Authorities said the attacks were politically motivated. Boelter pleaded guilty in June to six federal charges, including two counts of murder by firearm, after prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty.

Judge John Tunheim sentenced Boelter to two life terms in prison plus 40 years without the possibility of parole, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported. The newspaper quoted the judge as saying: “This was a brutal attack on elected public officials and their families, which is truly an attack on democracy itself.”

The Hortmans' children, Sophie and Colin, addressed the court at the sentencing hearing, the Star Tribune said. “I miss my mom. I miss my dad,” Sophie Hortman said. “I miss believing in the goodness of humanity.”

Boelter also faces state charges connected to the shooting. Minnesota does not have the death penalty.

The attacks added to fears about political violence in the United States. The source cited multiple assassination attempts against President Donald Trump, the fatal shooting of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk at a Utah university campus in September 2025, a fire set at Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's home last year, and the 2022 hammer attack on the husband of then-US House speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The death penalty in the United States is usually carried out at the state level, but the federal government can also seek execution for a limited set of crimes.