A manhunt was underway on Sunday for a gunman who shot two Democratic state lawmakers in Minnesota, killing Melissa Hortman and her husband and wounding the other, in what the northern US state’s governor said were politically motivated attacks.
The shootings on Saturday came as deep political divisions have riven the United States, the same day that hundreds of thousands of protesters across the country took to the streets to rally against the policies of Republican President Donald Trump.
Democratic State Representative Hortman – a former speaker of the House – and her husband Mark were killed at their home in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park, Governor Tim Walz announced in a news conference.
State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were shot and wounded at their home in nearby Champlin, he said. Authorities named the assailant as 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter, who was still at large and considered “armed and dangerous.”
“We believe he’s working to potentially flee the (Minneapolis-St Paul) area,” Drew Evans, superintendent of the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, told reporters.
Boelter had been spotted on Saturday morning in the Minneapolis area on surveillance footage obtained from a business, the official said.
Evans said authorities were still investigating the suspect’s motives, and did not know if additional people were involved in the attacks.
Trump and US Attorney General Pam Bondi decried what they called “horrific violence” and said perpetrators would be prosecuted to “the fullest extent of the law.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation offered a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the capture or conviction of Boelter.
Walz called the shootings “an act of targeted political violence.”
“Peaceful discourse is the foundation of our democracy. We don’t settle our differences with violence or at gunpoint,” he said during a news conference. He later announced on X that Minnesota’s flags will fly at half-staff in honour of Hortman.
“She woke up every morning determined to make Minnesota a better place,” the Democratic governor said.
State official Evans said Hoffman – who was “in stable condition” – and his wife were shot first, and as police investigated, Hortman and her husband were shot about 90 minutes later. The gunman was able to escape during an exchange of fire with officers near Hortman’s residence.
Praetorian Guards Security Services, a home security company, described Boelter on its website as its director of security patrols.
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