Minnesota legislators, Melissa Hortman and John Hoffman, targeted by shooter, suspect as a whole

A manhunt is underway in Minnesota after two state legislators were targeted and one of them killed on Saturday morning in what Governor Tim Walz called an “act of targeted political violence”.

Melissa Hortman, 55, a democrat, and her husband were killed in Brooklyn Park, a city near Minneapolis.

John Hoffman, 60, also a democrat, and his wife was shot down several times at their home about 15 km (nine miles) in a related attack. It is without surgery and stable.

A search is launched for the suspect who, according to the police, has usurped the identity of an officer. He was appointed Vance Luther Boelter, 57 and there is a reward of $ 50,000 for information leading to his arrest.

The roads around the places in the suburbs of Brooklyn Park were calm on Saturday evening, with a discreet police presence and a small locally hunting sign for the suspect.

Boelter sat on the state staff development council with Hoffman, state senator, but those responsible still investigate whether he knew one or the other of politicians.

The police said that he had made his way in the victims’ houses using a false badge and a uniform and even led a car that looks like a police vehicle equipped with emergency lights.

The first emergency call was made at 02:00 at the local time concerning the incident involving the senator of the Hoffman State and his wife.

Then another call was made to the police at 03:35, which led the police to check the president of the Hortman Chamber.

The police exchanged shots with the suspect at Hortman’s home, but managed to escape.

Brooklyn Park’s police chief Mark Bruley said the police were engaged in an “extended man hunt” alongside the FBI, the Swat and the hundreds of police officers. He said the police had taken the suspect’s car and believed he was traveling on foot.

Authorities warn people in the region not to respond to a police officer unless there are two officers together.

Elected officials through the state were put on alert and demonstrations of “no kings” against President Donald Trump were canceled after the leaflets for the demonstrations were found in his car.

In a statement, Trump said that “such horrible violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America” ​​and that the authorities “would pursue any person involved in the measure of the law.”

Bob Jacobson, state security commissioner, said the officials had been “targeted violent and cowardly”.

Saturday was a “dark day” for Minnesota, but “we will not allow fear or violence to define who we are or how we are advancing,” he said.

Walz has activated the state emergency operations center – used to manage disasters or emergencies – in response to shots.

The governor said the Minnesota had lost a “great chef and that I lost the most expensive friends”.

He called Hortman “a formidable civil servant, an element and a giant in Minnesota”, saying “she woke up every day determined to make the state a better place”.

Former vice-president Al Gore also paid tribute to Hortman, who briefly worked for him when he was a member of the American Senate.

“Although she was only there for a short period, she had a lasting impact,” said Gore. “There is absolutely no excuse for political violence.”

The former lecturer of the room, Nancy Pelosi, added in a press release that she had “with a broken heart” by targeted shots.

“This politically motivated climate of violence must end,” said Pelosi, whose husband was attacked during a politically motivated burglary at their home in 2022.

Hortman, a lawyer, was elected to the House of Minnesota Representatives in 2004 and was a speaker of the Chamber from 2019 to 2025.

She “has directed efforts to protect women’s rights, invest in clean energy and ensure free school lunch for children,” American senator Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Democrat, in a statement.

In 2020, she became a defender of the police reform following the murder of George Floyd, successfully helping to adopt a state ban on the police holders who caused Floyd’s death in the hands of the Minneapolis police.

She had two children. Her husband, Mark, was also killed.