The gunman, reportedly posing as a police officer, remains at large as Gov. Tim Walz activates emergency response.
A Minnesota lawmaker and her husband were fatally shot, and another lawmaker and his wife were wounded in separate early-morning attacks Saturday that officials described as acts of “targeted political violence.”
The victims were Minnesota State Sen. John Hoffman of Champlin, and state Rep. and Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman of Brooklyn Park, according to Champlin Mayor Ryan Sabas.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Senator Hoffman, his family, and Representative Hortman and her family,” Sabas said in a statement on June 14. “The actions that took place this morning are nothing short of pure evil.”
Speaking at a June 14 press conference, Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said investigators believe the same gunman was responsible for both incidents.
Evans said officers received a call around 2 a.m. reporting that Hoffman and his wife had been shot in their home. After officers responded and were processing the scene of the crime, others were proactively dispatched to check on Hortman, whose home is several miles away. At approximately 3:30 a.m., they encountered the suspect at Hortman’s residence and exchanged gunfire, after which the individual fled. A manhunt is now underway, Evans said, and the investigation is ongoing.
At the same briefing, Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said that officers dispatched to check in on Hortman encountered what appeared to be a police car outside her home with lights flashing, at which point they encountered the suspect, dressed as a police officer, who immediately, upon seeing them, engaged them with gunfire.
“It was not a real police officer,” Bruley clarified. “It was somebody that clearly had been impersonating a police officer, again, using the trust of the badge and this uniform to manipulate their way into the home.”
During the presser, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz confirmed the deaths of Hortman and her husband, Mark, calling the attack “an unspeakable tragedy.”
“My good friend and colleague, Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot and killed early this morning in what appears to be a politically motivated assassination,” Walz said.
By Tom Ozimek
