Minnesota state representative and former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed in a targeted shooting early Saturday morning at their Brooklyn Park home.
The Hortmans were found by police checking on their welfare after a state senator and his wife had been shot less than two hours earlier in Champlin by a man impersonating a police officer, according to state officials. Sen. John Hoffman and Yvette Hoffman were out of surgery and Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said he was cautiously optimistic that they would survive the attack, which involved multiple gunshot wounds.
Gov. Tim Walz called the incident “an unspeakable tragedy” and an act of “targeted political violence” during a press conference this morning.
“Our state lost a great leader and I lost the dearest of friends,” Walz said of Hortman, 55. “… She woke up every day to make this state a better place.”
The gunman was dressed as a police officer, complete with a badge and tactical gear, and drove an SUV equipped with emergency lights but was not an officer, according to law enforcement officials speaking at the press conference. He went first to the Hoffmans home in Champlin at about 2 a.m., according to Evans. Champlin police suggested proactively checking to make sure the Hortmans were OK ,and Brooklyn Park officers found the SUV with flashing lights outside the Hortmans home upon their arrival.
A man impersonating an officer came out of the home and immediately began shooting at the actual officers, Evans said.
The man retreated into the home and is believed to have escaped out a back door. A grid was set up in the neighborhood and a manhunt began with residents being advised to shelter in place and not answer their door, even for someone who appeared to be a police officer.
“We do not have anybody in custody at this time,” a Brooklyn Park police officials said at about 10 a.m.
Because the man fled on foot, police had access to his vehicle and found what was described as a “manifesto” that listed multiple elected officials. Hortman and Hoffman are Democrats, but officials at the press conference did not say whether the list concentrated on a particular political affiliation.
The Minnesota State Patrol said they would be enhancing security at a planned political protest at the State Capital, one of numerous events scheduled in the state as part of a nationwide “No Kings” protest of federal policies and actions by the Trump administration.
Lawmakers and other elected officials across the state were advised of the incident and given similar advice as those in the Brooklyn Park neighborhood where the manhunt was underway.