Two Minnesota lawmakers were shot and one was killed on Saturday morning in what Governor Tim Walz called a “politically motivated” attack. The suspect, a man believed to be impersonating a police officer, is still at large.
State Representative Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband Mark were shot and killed in their home Saturday morning. State Senator John Hoffman (D) and his wife, Yvette, who were also targeted by the assassin and each shot multiple times, survived a similar attack in their home on Saturday morning.
Authorities are “cautiously optimistic” that the Hoffman family will survive.
Officials say that the suspect had a “manifesto” with a target list of “many other lawmakers and officials” in his vehicle, including Hortman and Hoffman.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, law enforcement responded to a shooting at Hoffman’s house in Brooklyn Park. Police were proactively dispatched by a “very intuitive sergeant” to Hortman’s home, at which point, they saw a police vehicle in the driveway and what appeared to be a police officer coming out of the representative’s house.
When confronted, the individual immediately fired at law enforcement and retreated back into Hortman’s home, Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said. The suspect fled from the back door of the house; Minnesota law enforcement is now engaged in an expansive manhunt to find the assassin, who they believe is on foot.
The vehicle looked “exactly” like an SUV squad car and was equipped with lights. He was also wore a vest, taser and badge.
“No question, if they were in this room, you would assume they were a police officer,” Bruley said at a press conference.
Minnesota has now issued a shelter-in-place notice for residents in Brooklyn Park. Police officers have been instructed not to confront individuals alone. Officers have detained several people for questioning but they have not yet brought the suspect into custody. There are “people of interest that we are looking for,” Bruley said.
The suspect knocked on Hortman’s door on Saturday morning and identified himself as law enforcement, at which point, he entered the house and gunned down the representative and her husband.
The suspect “exploited the trust that our uniforms are meant to represent,” Minnesota Commissioner of Public Safety Bob Jacobson said.
Hortman was a Democrat from Brooklyn Park and Hoffman is a Democrat from Champlin.
“Speaker Hortman was someone who served the people of Minnesota with grace, compassion, humor, and a sense of service,” Governor Tim Walz said. “She was a formidable public servant — a fixture and a giant in Minnesota. She woke up every day determined to make this state a better place.”