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Assassin Imitating Officer Kills Minnesota Legislator
EDITORS NOTE: EDS: SUBS throughout to update and expand; NEW headline; REMOVES Thrush from byline; EXPANDS contributor note; ADDS related story.); (ART ADV: With photos.); (With: MINN-SHOOTINGS-VICTIMS); Reporting was contributed by Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Chris Hippensteel, Ernesto Londoño, Glenn Thrush and Jonathan Wolfe.
A person pretending to be a police officer assassinated a Democratic state legislator in Minnesota and killed the lawmaker's husband in "an act of targeted political violence," law enforcement officials said Saturday. The gunman also shot and injured another Democratic lawmaker and his wife, officials said.
State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, died in the attack at their home in the Minneapolis suburbs. State Sen. John A. Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were shot multiple times at their house in a nearby suburb but were alive after surgery as of Saturday afternoon.
Authorities were searching for the gunman, who shot at officers as they arrived at Hortman's home, before escaping. He was identified as Vance Boelter, 57, according to two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the matter.
Chief Mark Bruley of the Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, police said the gunman's vehicle contained a manifesto and a target list with names of individuals, including the two lawmakers who were shot. They did not immediately provide details of what the manifesto said, nor did they offer a possible motive for the attacks.
"We must all, Minnesota and across the country, stand against all forms of political violence," Gov. Tim Walz said.
FBI officials said they had joined the investigation. The Minnesota State Patrol urged people not to attend political protests Saturday "out of an abundance of caution." The agency said that among the papers found in the gunman's car was at least one with the words: "NO KINGS," the name of the anti-Trump rallies scheduled across the nation. Though organizers of several protests said they were canceling their gatherings, thousands of people still gathered outside the state Capitol in St. Paul.
Hortman, a lawyer by training and a legislator for about 20 years, was the speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives for a six-year period ending earlier this year. She helped Democrats pass several key policies on abortion rights, marijuana legalization, medical leave and other issues in 2023 and 2024, when her party briefly held full control of the state government.
Hoffman, a fourth-term state senator from Champlin, another Minneapolis suburb, chairs the Senate's Human Services Committee and has said he strives for "collaboration across the aisle." His home address was published on his biography page on the Senate's website.
Bob Jacobson, the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, said "This is a dark day today for Minnesota and for democracy."
The shootings came days after the conclusion of an unusually acrimonious legislative session, during which tensions over party dominance had turned into a legal dispute, and a narrowly divided statehouse struggled to agree on a two-year budget.
The shootings were also the latest in a series of recent attacks on political figures that has shaken American politics. Gunmen and arsonists have targeted politicians in both parties, from state-level officials to President Donald Trump, who was grazed in his right ear in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally last year.
Just over two months later, Secret Service agents traded fire with a man they called a second would-be assassin at one of Trump's golf courses in Florida.
In April, a man was charged with setting fire to the residence of Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. Not long before, the Republican Party headquarters in New Mexico and a Tesla dealership near Albuquerque were firebombed, at the height of Elon Musk's involvement in the Trump administration. And less than a month ago, a man gunned down two workers from the Israeli Embassy in Washington.
Condemnations of Saturday's shootings came from prominent figures in both parties. "It was an attack on everything we stand for as a democracy," Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said. Trump said he had "been briefed on the terrible shooting that took place in Minnesota," adding that "such horrific violence will not be tolerated."
Officials shared some information about how the attacks unfolded, including the quick thinking of a police sergeant that led officers to the Hortmans' home. They arrived too late to save the couple, but they engaged the gunman in a shootout, and after he ran, they were able to seize his car.
Around 2 a.m., officers from the Champlin Police Department responded to a report of a shooting at a home in Champlin. There, they found Hoffman and his wife injured with gunshot wounds.
Officers from Brooklyn Park, a nearby suburb, assisted in the emergency response to the Hoffman home, and a sergeant from that department became concerned after discovering that one of the victims was a politician.
"In hearing that, that very intuitive sergeant asked our officers to go check on Melissa Hortman's home, the representative that lives in our community," Bruley said.
Two Brooklyn Park officers drove to Hortman's home around 3:30 a.m., and when they pulled up at her street, they were met with a strange sight: A police vehicle, or what appeared to be one, was already there, parked in the driveway with its emergency lights on.
As the officers approached, a person who looked like a police officer -- dressed in a blue shirt and pants, wearing what looked like a protective vest, carrying a Taser, and wearing a badge -- was at the door and walking out of the house.
When confronted by the officers, the person immediately opened fire. Police fired back, and the person "retreated into Melissa's home," Bruley said. It wasn't immediately clear whether anyone had been shot in the confrontation.
Officers moved to the entrance of the house and saw Mark Hortman's wounded body. They took a few steps inside the home, dragged Hortman out and attempted first aid. He was pronounced dead shortly after.
More officers were called to the scene, and they surrounded the house. A SWAT team arrived and sent a drone into the house, which helped them find the body of Melissa Hortman inside.
But the gunman escaped on foot, officers said, and officials began a "large scale" search.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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