John Hoffman’s family issued a statement Monday night, saying the senator was out of the hospital, but has a long road to recovery.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman, who survived being shot nine times by an assailant impersonating a police officer, is currently recuperating in a transitional care facility, as announced by his family. The assailant is also accused of killing another legislator.
“John has been moved to a rehab facility, but still has a long road to recovery ahead,” the family said in a statement Monday night.
The family released a photo showing a smiling Hoffman giving a thumbs-up while standing with a suitcase on rollers, ready to leave the hospital.
In the Minneapolis suburb of Champlin, on June 14 around 2 a.m., Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were startled awake by loud knocking on their door. The individual claimed to be a law enforcement officer. As per an affidavit from an FBI agent, surveillance footage captured the suspect, identified as Vance Boelter, at their door equipped with a black tactical vest and a flashlight, and wearing a lifelike mask that entirely covered his head.
Yvette Hoffman recounted to authorities that upon opening the door and spotting the mask, they immediately doubted the man’s identity as a police officer. The intruder then allegedly declared it a robbery. Senator Hoffman attempted to confront the gunman and was shot nine times. Yvette was struck by gunfire eight times before managing to close the door. Their adult daughter, Hope, who was present at the time, remained unharmed and contacted emergency services.
Boelter is accused of going to the homes of two other lawmakers in a vehicle altered to resemble a squad car, without making contact with them, before going to the home of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in nearby Brooklyn Park. He allegedly killed both of them and wounded their dog so seriously that he had to be euthanized.
The chief federal prosecutor for Minnesota has called the lawmaker’s killing an assassination.
Yvette Hoffman was released from the hospital a few days after the attacks. Former President Joe Biden visited the senator in the hospital when he was in town for the Hortmans’ funeral.
Boelter, who remains jailed without bail, is charged in federal and state court with murder and attempted murder. At a hearing Thursday, Boelter said he was “looking forward to the facts about the 14th coming out.”
Prosecutors have declined to speculate on a motive. Friends have described him as an evangelical Christian with politically conservative views.
It will be up to Attorney General Pam Bondi to decide whether to seek the federal death penalty. Minnesota abolished its state death penalty in 1911.
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