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Star Tribune via Getty Images/Minnesota State SenateA manhunt is under way in Minnesota after two state lawmakers 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 were shot several times at their home about 15km (nine miles) away in a related attack. He is out of surgery and stable.
A search is on for the suspect who police say was impersonating an officer. He has been named as Vance Luther Boelter, 57 and there is a $50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
The roads around the scene in suburban Brooklyn Park were quiet on Saturday night, with a discreet police presence and little sign locally of the manhunt for the suspect.
Boelter served on the state’s workforce development board with Hoffman, a state senator, but officials are still investigating whether he knew either politician.
Police said he tricked his way into the victims’ homes using a false badge and uniform and was even driving a car that looks like a police vehicle equipped with emergency lights.
The first emergency call was made at 02:00 local time regarding the incident involving state senator Hoffman and his wife.
Then another call was placed to police at 03:35, which led officers to check on House Speaker Hortman.
The police exchanged gunfire with the suspect at Hortman’s home, but he managed to escape.
Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said police are engaged in an “extensive manhunt” alongside the FBI, SWAT and hundreds of police officers. He said police took the suspect’s car and believe he is travelling on foot.
Authorities are warning people in the area not to answer their door for a police officer unless there are two officers together.
Elected officials across the state were put on alert and “No Kings” protests against President Donald Trump were called off after flyers for the demonstrations were found in his car.
In a statement, Trump said “such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America,” and authorities would be “prosecuting anyone involved to the fullest extent of the law”.
Bob Jacobson, the state’s commissioner of public safety, said public servants have been “targeted in a violent and cowardly way”.
Saturday was a “dark day” for Minnesota, but “we will not allow fear or violence to define who we are or how we move forward”, he said.
Walz activated the State Emergency Operations Center – used for managing disasters or emergencies – in response to the shootings.
The governor said Minnesota had lost a “great leader and I lost the dearest of friends”.
He called Hortman “a formidable public servant, a fixture and a giant in Minnesota”, saying “she woke up every day determined to make the state a better place”.
Getty ImagesFormer Vice-President Al Gore also paid tribute to Hortman, who briefly worked for him while he was a member of the US Senate.
“Though she was only there for a short time, she had a lasting impact,” said Mr Gore. “There is absolutely no excuse for political violence.”
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi added in a statement that she was “heartbroken” by the targeted shootings.
“This climate of politically-motivated violence must end,” said Mrs Pelosi, whose husband was attacked during a politically-motivated break-in at their home in 2022.
Hortman, an attorney, was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2004, and served as House Speaker from 2019 to 2025.
She “led efforts to protect women’s rights, invest in clean energy, and secure free school lunch for kids”, said US Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, in a statement.
In 2020, she became an advocate for policing reform in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, successfully helping to enact a state ban on police choke holds that caused Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police.
She had two children. Her husband, Mark, was also killed.
