Minnesota shootings: Suspect impersonating cop, still at large after attacking 2 lawmakers; 1 dead
Authorities said the gunman was impersonating a police officer and escaped after exchanging fire with police who responded to the attacks.
The suspect was still at large in the shooting of two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses, reported Associated Press news agency on Saturday, citing officials.
Authorities said the gunman was impersonating a police officer and escaped after exchanging fire with police who responded to the attacks.
A Democratic state lawmaker, Melissa Hortman, and her husband were killed early Saturday, while a second lawmaker and his spouse were wounded in a separate attack, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said.
Walz said it appeared to be a "politically motivated assassination."
"An unspeakable tragedy has unfolded in Minnesota - my good friend and colleague, Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, were shot and killed early this morning in what appears to be a politically motivated assassination," Reuters quoted Waltz as saying, speaking to reporters.
"Our state lost a great leader," he said.
According to Walz, Senator John Hoffman and his wife, of Champlin, were shot multiple times, underwent surgery and that he was "cautiously optimistic" that they would survive "this assassination attempt."
"This was an act of targeted political violence," he said. "Peaceful discourse is the foundation of our democracy. We don't settle our differences with violence or at gunpoint."
The gunman attacked by knocking on the doors and asking the victims to come out, ABC News quoted police.
The two shooting locations are a few miles apart in Champlin and Brooklyn Park, just north of Minneapolis.
According to the ABC News report, Hoffman and his wife were shot around 2 am in Champlin, Superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Drew Evans said.
After Hoffman was attacked, officers were heading to pro-actively check on Hortman when they encountered the suspect at Hortman's home, the report quoted Evans.
