Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced on Saturday that state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband are dead, and state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife are wounded in a politically motivated shooting, reports cbsnews.com. According to the report, Hortman and her husband were shot in Brooklyn Park, while Hoffman and his wife were shot in Champlin. Speaking at a Saturday presser, Walz called the deaths of Hortman and her husband “a political assassination”.
“Hortman was someone who served the people of Minnesota with grace, compassion, humor, and a sense of service,” Walz said. “She was a formidable public servant. A fixture and a giant in Minnesota.”
News agency AP reported that Hoffman is married and has one daughter. Hortman was the top House Democratic leader in the state legislature and a former House speaker. She was first elected in 2004.
Both Hoffman and Hortman represented districts located north of Minneapolis.
The authorities, according to CBS News, said that the suspect is a White man with brown hair who’s believed to be wearing a blue shirt and blue pants. They say he is misrepresenting himself as law enforcement.
The suspect was dressed like a uniformed officer and operating a vehicle that “looked exactly like an SUV squad car. It was equipped with lights, emergency lights and looked exactly like a police vehicle,” Police Chief Mark Bruley said as quoted by AP.
US President Donald Trump said in a White House statement that the FBI would join in the investigation.
“Our Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and the FBI, are investigating the situation, and they will be prosecuting anyone involved to the fullest extent of the law. Such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America. God Bless the great people of Minnesota, a truly great place!”
The Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth called the attack “evil” and said she was “heartbroken beyond words”.
“With the law enforcement response ongoing and details still emerging, I will simply ask all Minnesotans to please lift up in prayer the victims of this horrific attack, as well as the law enforcement personnel still working to apprehend the perpetrator,” Demuth said in a statement as quoted by news agency AP.
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