Hoffman family delivers raw statements at Vance Boelter sentencing: "We answered the door to a monster"

Minnesota State Sen. John Hoffman, speaking as both a lawmaker and a shooting victim, told a federal judge Thursday that Vance Boelter's deadly attacks were not impulsive and said he now lives with permanent physical damage and steel doors on his house, "daily reminders that violence followed us home."

His was one of several unflinching statements the Hoffman family delivered in court as Boelter awaited sentencing for killing former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband and shooting the Hoffmans in their Champlin home. He was ultimately sentenced to two life sentences plus 40 years.

"The defendant looked me in the eyes and pulled the trigger," he said, adding that he had nine bullet holes in his body and Yvette Hoffman had eight in hers. He rejected arguments that Boelter's four decades as a pastor should soften how the court views him.

"Those were not impulsive acts," Hoffman said, adding that the case should be judged by the same standard used to weigh anyone's character. "You know them by their fruits."

Hoffman described lasting physical damage from the shooting, saying it changed how he sleeps, how he uses the bathroom and how he uses his left arm. He said he used to play drums but can no longer do so with the same skill. 

He said the attack also changed his daughter Hope, who witnessed her parents bleeding and feared she might lose them both, a sentiment shared by his wife. 

Yvette Hoffman told the court she fought Boelter "with everything I had" before finally forcing him out of their home, then collapsed near the entryway laundry room. "I'll never forget looking down and watching my blood stream down that white washing machine as I felt myself sinking to the floor and fading," she said. "I genuinely believed, your honor, I was dying." She said her daughter screamed, "No, don't die."

She said her sense of safety in her own home is "shattered" — she checks whether the same cars are parked outside before she leaves, she does not answer her front door unless she knows it's family, and she now looks for the nearest exit everywhere she goes.

"We answered the door to a monster who lied about being law enforcement, a parasite who shot my husband," she said. "He destroyed the lives of so many. In the end, he destroyed his own life."

She told the court she had "come face to face with evil" and survived it, and said she expects Boelter to spend "the rest of his pathetic life in federal prison."

"If I had a wish, it is when the defendant's life ends, his body is carried out of federal prison in one of those body bags he intended for my family," Yvette Hoffman said.

Hope Hoffman used part of her statement to criticize what she described as failures in the mental health and gun-control systems that she said contributed to the attack, and said Boelter appeared to have been driven by a hate-fueled ideology that a courtroom could not resolve. She called Boelter "not only a criminal and a loser" but "the worst kind of father he could possibly be," and said she hopes he dies with that thought.

Following Boelter's sentencing, the Hoffman family released the following statement:

"Today, our family came together with strength to share how evil impacted us for the rest of our lives.  No sentence can do justice for the horrific and unconscionable acts this monster perpetrated on June 14th 2025. We will be reminded of the harm he caused every day of the rest of our lives.  As we have said consistently, it is time to stop dehumanizing people, and start leading with kindness and grace in our public dialog (sic)."

Prosecutors have said Boelter's stalking and killing of Hortman and her husband, along with the shootings of the Hoffmans, amounted to a targeted political assassination. Boelter also faces separate state charges, including murder and attempted murder counts, that Hennepin County prosecutors have said they intend to pursue.

The Hoffmans have also filed a civil lawsuit against Boelter.