MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man who posed as a police officer and knocked on lawmakers' doors in the middle of the night, killing the top Democrat in the state House and her husband and wounding a state senator and his wife, pleaded guilty to murder on Thursday so that federal prosecutors would not seek the death penalty.

The attacks by Vance Boelter, 58, sparked the largest search for a suspect in state history. They also reverberated far beyond Minnesota, as elected officials across the country feared that escalating threats and polarization could lead to more violence.

There were brief sobs from the courtroom gallery on Thursday as family members of Melissa and Mark Hortman sat alongside Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, while the chilling events of June 14, 2025, were described in great detail.

Disguised with a tactical uniform and realistic mask that covered his entire head, Boelter drove a fake police SUV with lights flashing to the legislators' homes. As his federal defense attorney questioned him about his actions, including whether he pressed a gun to Melissa Hortman’s head and fired, Boelter repeatedly said a simple “yes." The Hortman family's golden retriever was so gravely injured that it had to be euthanized.

U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen said in a press conference Thursday that they believed the case was charged appropriately and “death penalty-eligible.” He said the death penalty was only taken off the table with Boelter’s agreement to the longest possible prison sentence: two consecutive life terms, plus 40 years, for the six federal charges.

“Political violence is a scourge in our nation,” Rosen said in a statement Thursday. “To all of those who would commit political violence: this Justice Department will seek and obtain the longest prison terms for your offense.”

Boelter also faces state charges, including two counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder as well as charges of impersonating a police officer and animal cruelty. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said Thursday that the federal plea agreement does not affect the state's case, which had been on hold pending the resolution of the federal case.

Boelter, wearing his orange jail sweatshirt and sweatpants, followed along in the courtroom Thursday as U.S. District Judge John Tunheim talked through each of the six charges and the maximum sentences they carry. Tunheim accepted the guilty pleas but did not yet set a date for sentencing.

Boelter was captured near his home in rural Green Isle the day after the shootings, which prosecutors have said were politically motivated. When they announced the federal indictment in July, they released a rambling handwritten letter they say Boelter wrote to FBI Director Kash Patel in which he confessed to the attacks. However, the letter didn’t make clear why he targeted the Hortmans or the Hoffmans.

In some messages to media, Boelter referenced a vague and cryptic “investigation” he had been carrying out, sometimes suggesting it was about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Friends described Boelter as an evangelical Christian and occasional preacher and missionary who held politically conservative views and had been struggling to find work.

John Hoffman said in a lawsuit filed against Boelter in April that his left arm and hand likely would never fully recover and that he also had permanent injuries to his digestive and urinary systems.

Yvette Hoffman was left with permanent physical weakness, the lawsuit said, while their adult daughter, Hope Hoffman, who was there and called 911 but was not shot, suffered severe psychological trauma.