A person pretending to be a police officer assassinated a Democratic state legislator in Minnesota and killed the lawmaker’s husband in “an act of targeted political violence,” governor Tim Walz said on Saturday. The assailant also shot and injured another Democratic lawmaker and his wife, officials said.
State representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, died in the attack at their home in the Minneapolis suburbs. State Senator John A. Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were shot multiple times at their house in a nearby suburb, but remained alive as of Saturday morning.
US President Donald Trump on Saturday said he had been briefed about the “terrible shooting in Minnesota”. He said the shooting appears to be targeted against state lawmakers. “This horrific violence will not be tolerated,” Trump added.
The authorities were searching for the assailant, who shot at officers as they arrived at one of the lawmakers’ homes. Chief Mark Bruley of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, said the police said the gunman’s vehicle contained a manifesto and a target list with names of individuals, including the two lawmakers who were shot.
“We must all, Minnesota and across the country, stand against all forms of political violence,” Walz said.
FBI officials said they had joined the investigation.
Hortman, a lawyer by training and a legislator for about 20 years, served as the Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives for a six-year period ending earlier this year. A resident of Brooklyn Park, just outside Minneapolis, she represented a safely Democratic district and routinely won re-election by more than 20 percentage points. Hortman was married with two children, according to her state legislative bio.
Hortman helped Democrats pass several key policies on abortion rights, marijuana and medical leave and other issues in 2023 and 2024, when her party briefly held full control of the state government. After last year’s elections, when Republicans made gains in legislative races and Walz lost his bid for vice-president, Hortman defended Democrats’ record leading the state.
“I wouldn’t change what we did because we invested in Minnesotans,” Hortman said. “We made child care cheaper. We made getting housing built a high priority. We made some pretty considerable investments in state infrastructure projects.”
Hoffman, a fourth-term state senator from Champlin, another Minneapolis suburb, chairs the Senate’s Human Services Committee. His home address was published on his bio page on the Senate’s website. He won his most recent election by 10 percentage points. “A hallmark of my approach is collaboration across the aisle,” Hoffman wrote in a letter to constituents ahead of last year’s legislative session. “I firmly believe that the path to progress for our state involves considering input from all perspectives, regardless of which party holds the majority.”
Bob Jacobson, the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, said “this is a dark day today for Minnesota and for democracy”. “We will not allow fear or violence to define who we are or how we move forward,” he added.
Both houses of the Minnesota Legislature are closely divided. Before Hortman’s death, the House had been evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats have a one-person majority in the Senate.
Public Safety Commissioner Bob Johnson said the suspect was posing as a law enforcement officer.
“Suspect exploited the trust of our uniforms, what our uniforms are meant to represent. That betrayal is deeply disturbing to those of us who wear the badge with honour and responsibility”, he said. The shootings happened at a time when political leaders nationwide have been attacked, harassed and intimidated during a time of deep political divisions.
GIFFORDS, the national gun violence prevention organisation led by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, released the following statement. “I am horrified and heartbroken by last night’s attack on two patriotic public servants”, Giffords said. “My family and I know the horror of a targeted shooting all too well. An attack against lawmakers is an attack on American democracy itself. Leaders must speak out and condemn the fomenting violent extremism that threatens everything this country stands for.”
Giffords was shot in the head in 2011 by a gunman who killed six people.
New York Times News Service & AP