[TECH AND FINANCIAL]
Topline
In what Gov. Tim Walz has characterized as a “politically motivated blockblockination,” Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot and killed in their home while State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were also shot and are receiving care.
Minn. State Rep. Melissa Hortman on Jan. 3, 2023, in St. Paul, Minn.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Key Facts
A police alert warned that the “suspect is armed and dangerous and may be impersonating law enforcement,” according to the Minnesota Star-Tribune.
Deputy FBI director Dan Bongino posted on X that the bureau “is working in collaboration with our local and state partners.”
“My good friend and colleague, Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were shot and killed this morning in what appears to be a politically motivated blockblockination,” Walz said at a press conference.
At 10:33 a.m., Walz said Hoffman and his wife “are out of surgery” and receiving care, and that “we are cautiously optimistic that they will survive this blockblockination attempt.”
President Donald Trump issued a statement on the shootings, saying he had “been briefed on the terrible shooting that took place in Minnesota,” and “such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America.”
What We Know About The Suspected Shooter
Local police told the Minnesota Star Tribune that, early Saturday morning, they noticed an SUV with emergency lights and someone who initially appeared to be a police officer at Hortman’s door, but the person “immediately fired at officers” after being confronted and fled back into the house. Mark Bruley, the chief of police in Brooklyn Park (Hortman and her husband’s city) said the police searched the vehicle and uncovered writings that identified “many lawmakers and other officials,” including Hortman and Hoffman, according to MinnPost. The shooter remains at large as a manhunt continues, according to the Star Tribune.
Key Background
Hortman, 55, was a top Democratic leader in the Minnesota Legislature. First elected in 2004, she served as House speaker from 2019 to 2025 and spearheaded key legislation, including universal free school lunches statewide and a red flag gun law—which allows police or family members to petition the courts to have a gun removed from those considered a threat to themselves or others—according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. Hoffman, 60 and also a top Democrat in the Minnesota House, is a member of the state senate first elected in 2012. He served as chair of the Human Services Committee, according to CBS News, and has also served on committees for energy, environment and health services.
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