A federal grand jury indicted Vance Boelter on six counts Tuesday. The charges including murder and stalking, in the slayings of Mark and Melissa Hortman, as well as the attempted murders of John and Yvette Hoffman.
The proceedings took a turn, though, as prosecutors revealed the accused assassin’s penned confession letter claiming Governor Tim Walz secretly ordered him to kill Minnesota’s two U.S. senators. The handwritten note addressed to FBI Director Kash Patel was discovered in Boelter’s abandoned getaway vehicle and includes allegations that Walz wanted him to assassinate Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith so the governor could claim a Senate seat for himself.
“I am the shooter at large in Minnesota involved in the two shootings,” Boelter allegedly wrote in the letter, which acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson described as either “delusion” or an attempt to “excuse his crimes.”
BREAKING: Accused Minnesota political assassin Vance Boelter’s full confession letter released. pic.twitter.com/9JF21khtQn
— Liz Collin (@lizcollin) July 15, 2025
Federal prosecutors announced the enhanced charges carry potential death penalty eligibility for the murders of former House Speaker Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband Mark. The couple was gunned down in their Brooklyn Park home after Boelter allegedly posed as a police officer to gain entry.
The indictment reveals prosecutors now consider John and Yvette Hoffman’s daughter Hope a fifth intended victim. Hope Hoffman broke her silence in a statement Tuesday, describing how she watched her parents get shot and had “a gun in my face.”
“How I didn’t get grazed is nothing short of dumb luck,” she said. “I’m grateful I happened to be at my parents’ house to be able to call 911. Had I not been, they wouldn’t be here.”
Thompson praised the family’s heroism: “Both John and Yvette acted with incredible bravery to put themselves between Boelter’s bullets and their daughter.”
Jenny Boelter released her first public statement through her attorney, calling the violence “a betrayal of everything we hold true as tenets of our Christian faith.”
The accused killer’s wife said she and her children are completely blindsided and have fully cooperated with investigators since being contacted the morning of the shootings. She clarified that she voluntarily met police at a gas station rather than being pulled over, as some reports suggested.
“We are appalled and horrified by what occurred and our hearts are incredibly heavy for the victims of this unfathomable tragedy,” Jenny Boelter said.
The confession letter details Boelter’s claims of conducting secret military missions across Eastern Europe, South America, the Middle East and Africa before allegedly being recruited for the assassination plot.
— U.S. Attorney MN (@DMNnews) July 15, 2025
According to the note, Boelter says he initially refused Walz’s request to kill the senators but was threatened with harm to his family. He claims when he tried to back out, Walz set up a meeting where people were “waiting to kill me,” prompting Boelter to allegedly target the lawmakers instead.
Thompson emphasized there is no evidence Boelter ever planned to target Minnesota’s senators and called the letter’s contents fantasy designed to misdirect the investigation.
A Walz spokesman responded to the allegations simply: “The tragedy continues to be deeply disturbing for all Minnesotans.”
Boelter faces arraignment in September and trial in November on the federal charges. He previously waived his rights to probable cause and preliminary hearings, saying it would help the truth come out faster.
The case has already spawned alternative theories about Boelter’s motivations and whether he acted alone. Prosecutors maintain they believe he was a lone actor despite discovering notebooks containing names of nearly 70 Democratic officials across multiple states.
Attorney General Pam Bondi will ultimately decide whether to pursue the death penalty, though Thompson said that decision remains many months away.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office has also charged Boelter with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder at the state level.
