Sometime before 2 a.m. local time Saturday, a gunman posing as a police officer targeted two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses in their homes in the Minneapolis suburbs. State representative (and former Speaker) Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were killed. State Senator John Hoffman and his spouse were also shot and wounded in a separate attack. Both are Democrats.
In a press conference on Saturday morning, Governor Tim Walz called the attacks “an act of targeted political violence”:
My good friend and colleague Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were shot and killed earlier this morning in what appears to be a politically motivated assassination. …
My prayers also go out to state Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette, who were each shot multiple times. The Hoffmans are out of surgery at this time and are receiving care and we are cautiously optimistic that they will survive this assassination attempt.
“Peaceful discourse is the foundation of our democracy,” Walz said. “We don’t settle our differences with violence or at gunpoint.”
Police in Champlin sponded to a call at the Hoffman residence around 2 a.m. Saturday. Around 3:30 a.m., Brooklyn Park police checked on the Hortman residence, where they encountered a gunman who opened fire on them. The man was posing as a law enforcement officer. Per the Star Tribune:
Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said that when officers arrived to the Hortman home, they noticed a vehicle with emergency lights what appeared to be a police officer at the door, “when our officers confronted him he immediately fired at officers and retreated back into the home.”
Bruley also said that a “manifesto” was found in the suspect’s car with a target list that included “many lawmakers and other officials”:
When we did a search of the vehicle there was a manifesto that identified many lawmakers and other officials, we immediately made alerts to the state, who took action on alerting them and providing security where necessary.
Source link
