US State Lawmaker’s Death: Manhunt Begins For Assassin

In a jarring eruption of political violence, Minnesota is gripped by fear and fury after a gunman fatally shot Democratic State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband in what authorities are calling a deliberate, ideologically driven attack. State Senator John Hoffman and his wife were also seriously wounded in a coordinated shooting that unfolded just miles away.

The shootings occurred on Saturday, a day already marked by national unrest as mass protests swept across the country in opposition to President Donald Trump’s administration. Against that backdrop of political fracture, the attacks struck at the very heart of Minnesota’s Democratic leadership.

Governor Tim Walz confirmed the killings in an emotional press conference, describing Hortman—once Speaker of the Minnesota House—and her husband Mark as “pillars of public service, stolen from us in an act of hate.”

The suspect, identified as 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter, remains on the run. Authorities have launched a full-scale manhunt, warning the public that he is heavily armed and likely attempting to escape the Twin Cities metro area.

“This wasn’t random. This was calculated,” said Drew Evans, superintendent of the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. “We believe political ideology played a central role.”

As law enforcement tightens its dragnet and community leaders call for calm, the state—and indeed the nation—is left grappling with a haunting question: When politics becomes weaponized, who is truly safe?

Boelter had been spotted 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.

Targeted political violence

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.

Later that evening, Governor Tim Walz took to X (formerly Twitter) to announce that flags across Minnesota would be lowered to half-staff in memory of Representative Melissa Hortman. “She rose each day with one mission: to make this state a better, fairer place,” Walz wrote, paying tribute to the late lawmaker’s enduring commitment to public service.

State authorities revealed that the sequence of violence began at the Hoffman residence, where Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were shot—both surviving, with the senator now in stable condition. Roughly 90 minutes later, as law enforcement scrambled to piece together the unfolding crisis, a second burst of gunfire claimed the lives of Hortman and her husband Mark at their Brooklyn Park home.

According to officials, the suspect—57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter—exchanged fire with responding officers near the second crime scene before vanishing, evading capture in the chaos.

In a disturbing revelation, Boelter is listed online as the director of security patrol operations for Praetorian Guards Security Services, a private firm whose name now casts a chilling shadow over the unfolding investigation.

Africa Today News, New York