Minnesota grand jury indicts Vance Boelter on 8 counts in murders of state lawmaker and her husband

Assassination suspect Vance Boelter was indicted Thursday by a Minnesota grand jury on eight criminal counts, including first-degree premeditated murder, attempted first-degree murder, impersonating a police officer, and felony cruelty to an animal for allegedly shooting state Rep. Melissa Hortman’s golden retriever.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary F. Moriarty outlined the grand jury charges at an afternoon news conference in Minneapolis. Charges include:

• Two counts of first-degree premeditated murder for the assassination of Rep. Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) and her husband, Mark Hortman, at about 3:30 a.m. June 14.

• Four counts of attempted first-degree murder for the shooting of Sen. John Hoffman (DFL-Champlin) and his wife, Yvette Hoffman; the attempted shooting of the Hoffmans’ daughter, Hope Hoffman; and the alleged intended murder of state Rep. Kristin Bahner (DFL-Maple Grove).

• One count of impersonating a police officer with an aggravating factor for “driving a police car or a car that looked like a police car,” Moriarty said.

• A charge of felony cruelty to an animal for the shooting death of Gilbert, the Hortmans’ golden retriever. Gilbert was heard on security video wailing in pain after being shot. He had to be euthanized by a veterinarian due to the gunshot wounds.

‘Boelter fires the gun at least nine times through the front door.’

“This is one of the most complex investigations in the history of this state,” Moriarty said.

Boelter now faces 14 state and federal charges that accuse him of gunning down the Hortmans, attempting to kill the three Hoffmans, and allegedly seeking to kill two other Democrat state lawmakers in the predawn hours of June 14.

“The damage done to the victims — those with us, those who were taken from us, and to our entire community — has opened wounds that will never heal,” Moriarty said.

Boelter, 58, was arrested June 15 near his home in Green Isle, Minn., after a 43-hour manhunt — the largest in Minnesota history. He is accused of planning to murder at least four Democrat lawmakers, including the assassination of Melissa Hortman, the former speaker of the Minnesota House.

The federal charges against Boelter for murder, attempted murder, stalking, and use of a firearm in furtherance of those crimes will go to trial first. Boelter pleaded not guilty to the federal charges Aug. 7. He will be back in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis November 12.

Moriarty said it is especially important for the state to try Boelter so that he cannot escape a sentence via a presidential pardon. There is no evidence that a pardon would be considered if Boelter were convicted on the federal charges.

Some evidence laid out by Moriarty differed from earlier accounts of the charged crimes. She said Boelter did not fire at Brooklyn Park police officers at the Hortman home, as previously believed. A Brooklyn Park officer fired at Boelter after Boelter allegedly shot Mark Hortman.

Fired 9 times into door

At the Hoffman home about 2:05 a.m., Moriarty said, Boelter rang the doorbell and knocked on the window “multiple times” before the senator answered the door. The suspect moved into the entryway and told the Hoffmans he was a police officer. The perpetrator is heard on security video “telling them to show their hands,” Moriarty said.

The Hoffmans realized Boelter was wearing a full-head silicone mask and pushed him out of the home, she said.

RELATED: Exclusive: Assassination suspect Vance Boelter tells STUNNING inside story about shooting

The stuff of nightmares: Vance Luther Boelter allegedly sought to kill 4 Minnesota lawmakers in the overnight hours of June 14, 2025. Photos by FBI and Liz Collin/Alpha News

“They successfully push him out of the house and shut the door,” Moriarty said. “Boelter fires the gun at least nine times through the front door, striking John and Yvette multiple times. Hope was on the floor at the time.”

The Hoffmans told media that the senator was struck nine times and his wife suffered eight bullet wounds. They have since been released from the hospital.

Moriarty’s account differed from the story Boelter told Blaze News Aug. 11 in a text-message interview from the Sherburne County Jail, where he is being held pending his federal trial.

Boelter said he began firing after Sen. Hoffman, Yvette Hoffman, and Hope Hoffman all began pushing him backward. He claimed he aimed the handgun downward between his feet and theirs. Boelter said he kept firing until he realized he was outside the house.

Boelter said if shooting people was his intention, he would have used a silencer and aimed for head or heart shots.

“So I had six arms on me and realized I'm going to lose control of any shots [that] were fired,” Boelter said. Boelter asserts he did not plan to shoot anyone that day but intended to make citizen’s arrests.

‘The evidence shows that Boelter intentionally shot Gilbert.’

A federal law enforcement source told Blaze News that Boelter’s account of the Hoffman shooting is flatly contradicted by video and other evidence.

Senator Hoffman’s name appears several times in handwritten notes found by law enforcement in Boelter’s 2015 Ford Explorer Police Interceptor SUV after the Hortman shooting, Moriarty said. Blaze News learned that Vance and Jenny Boelter purchased the SUV in 2019 for their planned security company, Praetorian Guard Security Services. According to title records, the vehicle was originally owned by the Osceola Police Department in Polk County, Wis.

Hoffman’s name has a star next to it in the notebook, along with the home’s address and information on family members, she said.

After leaving the Hoffman home, Boelter allegedly drove his dark SUV to the home of Rep. Bahner in Maple Grove, arriving about 2:24 a.m. Bahner’s name was also found in Boelter’s handwritten notes, Moriarty said.

“He rings her doorbell for over two minutes,” Moriarty said. “He yells, ‘This is the police,’ and points a flashlight at her front door. He tries to open the handle. Bahner was not home.”

The Minnesota attempted-murder statute is based on intent, the county attorney said.

“Attempted murder is defined as intending to cause the death of a person and taking a substantial step toward that goal,” she said. “Beyond mere preparation, it does not matter that the act could not be completed here. In other words, the fact that Bahner wasn’t home at all is not a barrier to proving this charge.”

After allegedly parking his SUV along the curb near the home of Sen. Ann Rest (DFL-New Hope) and briefly being approached by a New Hope police officer at about 2:36 a.m., Boelter reportedly drove to the Hortman home in Brooklyn Park.

The FBI previously said Boelter rang the Hortmans’ doorbell. Mark Hortman opened the door.

RELATED: How did a religious, small-town Minnesota boy morph into an alleged political assassin?

Flowers sit on the desk of murdered Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman in the House chamber at the Minnesota State Capitol on June 17, 2025.Photo by Joshua Lott/The Washington Post via Getty Images

“When Mark Hortman answers the door, Boelter stands in the doorway. Melissa can be heard telling Mark to ask for this person’s badge number, name, and jurisdiction,” Moriarty said. “Boelter tells Mark he needs to quote-unquote ‘see’ his wife. He says he can’t see her through the window and that he needs her to come down, presumably from the stairs. Boelter tells the Hortmans that he is a Maple Grove police officer.”

When Brooklyn Park police pulled up in front of the home, Boelter began shooting Mark Hortman “while running toward him and into the house,” Moriarty said. The investigation determined that Boelter did not fire his weapon at the officers as previously reported. A Brooklyn Park officer “did fire multiple shots at Boelter after Boelter shot Mark Hortman in the doorway,” she said.

‘Do we give any credence to that? No, we do not.’

After entering the house, Boelter fired “multiple shots at Melissa Hortman,” Moriarty said.

The family dog, Gilbert, was barking when Mark Hortman opened the door but quieted when Hortman told him to stay, she said.

‘Act of cruelty’

“The evidence shows that Boelter intentionally shot Gilbert. Boelter shot Gilbert at the foot of the stairs on the main floor,” Moriarty said. “Gilbert was not standing between Boelter and Mark. Gunshots are followed by sounds from Gilbert, who remains on the floor until he’s carried out by law enforcement. He was partially paralyzed.”

The shooting of Gilbert was “an act of cruelty that led to yet another loss for the Hortmans’ grieving family,” Moriarty said. “Under our prosecution, he will be held accountable for this compounding harm.”

Prosecutors began presenting evidence to the Hennepin County grand jury within two weeks of the shootings, she said. “This was a voluminous file. We are continuously getting evidence and so we were processing that evidence as the summer went along, and we finished that presentation today.”

Moriarty dismissed claims made by Boelter to Blaze News, Alpha News, and the New York Post that he was planning to make citizen’s arrests based on an undercover investigation of 400 deaths he said were caused by COVID-19 shots.

“Apparently he’s making claims about conducting a citizen’s arrest,” Moriarty said. “Do we give any credence to that? No, we do not.”

She emphasized that Boelter had been fully pushed out the Hoffmans’ front door and the door was closed when he began firing. Nine shots were fired, all of which hit Sen. Hoffman and eight of which hit Yvette Hoffman.

Moriarty said that statements made by Boelter from the Sherburne County Jail could be used as evidence in his Hennepin County trial.

“Any time a person voluntarily makes a statement, we as prosecutors — and this goes for federal prosecutors as well — can certainly use that information if we feel it’s relevant to our prosecution,” Moriarty said. “So nobody is making him make a statement. He’s doing that voluntarily. And so we can use that should we feel it’s appropriate.”

RELATED: Suspected Minnesota assassin claims he was part of a 2-year undercover investigation

The remains of Gilbert, the beloved golden retriever of Rep. Melissa Hortman, lie in state at the Minnesota State Capitol on June 27, 2025. Gilbert was placed between the caskets of Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman.Photo by Chris Juhn/Anadolu via Getty Images

Moriarty said it is important for Hennepin County to prosecute Boelter even though he has federal charges that could lead to the death penalty.

“It’s very important to us because these are members of our community here in Hennepin County,” she said. “These were people who were public servants who represent us, and we feel it’s important to hold Boelter accountable for what he did in this county.

“I will also say there’s no possibility of anyone pardoning, or at least in the federal government, pardoning Boelter on anything that we do here in state court.”

A reporter asked Moriarty if there is a “substantial chance” that President Donald J. Trump would pardon Boelter if he is convicted in federal court. Both the reporter and county attorney referred to the president simply as “Trump.”

“I have no idea. We'd have no idea,” Moriarty said. “We’re not focused on that. We are focused on bringing accountability and justice to the people of Hennepin County and focusing on making sure that it sticks.”

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