A massive manhunt entered a second day on Sunday in Minnesota for the gunman who killed a Democratic state lawmaker while posing as a police officer, a crime that governor Tim Walz characterised as a “politically motivated assassination”.
The suspect, whom police identified as Vance Luther Boelter, 57, fled on foot when officers confronted him at the Brooklyn Park home of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, who were both killed.
The gunman earlier had shot and wounded another Democratic lawmaker, state Senator John Hoffman, and his wife Yvette at their home a few miles away, authorities said.
Minnesota US Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, said on Sunday morning that the authorities believed the suspect was still in the Midwest, adding that an alert had been put out in neighbouring South Dakota.
“Clearly, this is politically motivated,” she said, noting that the state’s entire congressional delegation — Republicans and Democrats — issued a shared statement condemning the shootings.
The suspect left behind a vehicle outside Hortman’s house in suburban Minneapolis that resembled a police SUV, including flashing lights, and contained a “manifesto” and a target list of other politicians and institutions, officials said.
Authorities had not publicly identified a specific motive as of Saturday evening.