Via Fox9: Rep. Melissa Hortman, her husband killed; Sen. John Hoffman, his wife shot in ‘targeted’ shootings.
Two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses were shot by someone impersonating a police officer. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were killed in an overnight shooting in Brooklyn Park.
Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were shot in the overnight shooting in Champlin. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is “cautiously optimistic” they will survive.
Hortman was Democrat from Brooklyn Park representing District 34B. Hoffman, a Democrat from Champlin, represents Senate District 34.
I will note that Hortman had served as Speaker of the State House.
While the appropriate condemnations have been issued at all levels (see The Hill: Trump, lawmakers react to ‘horrific’ shooting of Minnesota legislators), I can’t help but point out that if there is real concern about this type of political violence from on high, then the Trump administration and its allies need to radically tone down the us-versus-them rhetoric and the ongoing escalation of use of force as a political tool.
Real leaders who cared about the country they were leading would seek to address these issues. I fear, instead, we will see the ramping up of both.
Wired has this run-down about the suspect: Suspect in Minnesota Shooting Linked to Security Company, Evangelical Ministry.
In terms of crass politics, I expect two things to be the main right-wing talking points (the “Senate pin” of this story, if you will).
- There were pieces of paper with “No Kings” written on them in the suspect’s car and that slogan was used for anti-Trump protests today.
- The suspect was appointed to a bipartisan Workforce Development Board by Walz. (The NY Post seems to gleefully proclaim that fact in their headline: Former appointee of Tim Walz sought in ‘politically motivated assassination’ of lawmaker and husband — as police reveal ‘hit list’ of 70).
Here’s a photo of the “No Kings” fliers found in the suspects car.
Here’s how Wired described that part of his bio:
His involvement in the food industry has also seemingly helped him build inroads to local government. In 2019, Minnesota governor Tim Walz appointed him to a Workforce Development Board in the capacity of a “business and industry representative.” He also served as chair on the Dakota-Scott Workforce Development Board for over a decade, but resigned last year, according to a post on LinkedIn.
This sounds like one of those things where local business types get asked to serve. I am not sure it tells us one thing or another. When it comes to motivations for political murder, deep views about abortion seem a more likely source than issues linked to workforce development.
To that point, he had a list of targets in his car that seems to indicate abortion was a central motivator. As per ABC News:
Dozens of Minnesota Democrats were on a target list written by the gunman, according to law enforcement sources.
Those on the list included Gov. Tim Walz, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, U.S. Sen. Tina Smith and state Attorney General Keith Ellison, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the matter.
Police said the list — which was retrieved from the suspect’s vehicle — also named Hortman and Hoffman. Both victims are Democrats and Hortman was formerly the Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives.
The shooter’s list of potential targets also included the names of abortion providers and pro-choice activists, several sources told ABC News. Many of the Democratic lawmakers on the list have been outspoken about pro-choice policy positions, two sources said.
Here is a run-down of events, also from the ABC News link:
The shootings began around 2 a.m. Saturday when Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were both shot multiple times at their home in Champlin, Minnesota, authorities said.
“We’re cautiously optimistic they will survive this assassination attempt,” Walz said at a news conference.
After Hoffman was shot, officers headed to pro-actively check on Hortman, who lived in the nearby town of Brooklyn Park, police said.
Around 3:35 a.m., the officers found the suspect — dressed as a police officer — coming out of Hortman’s house, police said.
The suspect fired at the officers; gunfire was exchanged and the suspect was able to escape and flee on foot, authorities said.
Hortman and her husband, Mark, were both found fatally shot at the house, police said.
The suspect’s vehicle — which looked like a police vehicle, including police lights — was in Hortman’s driveway, authorities said, and the list of potential targets was found inside the car.
This is all tragic, frightening, and unnecessary. And again, it behooves responsible leaders to rethink the environment they are encouraging. I have sincere doubts this will happen, to put it mildly.
And not to put too fine a point on a developing story, this also illustrates why people have legitimate fears of individuals with masks who do not provide proper ID conducting immigration arrests.
