SACRAMENTO, Jun 16 (NNN-XINHUA) – A gunman killed a Minnesota state lawmaker and wounded another, in coordinated attacks early Saturday, marking the first successful politically motivated killing of state legislators in the U.S. midwestern state’s modern history.
Minnesota State Representative, Melissa Hortman, 55, and her husband were shot dead at their home, in Brooklyn Park at 3:35 a.m. local time (0835 GMT), Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz, said.
State Senator, John Hoffman, 60, and his wife were critically wounded in a separate attack at their Champlin residence at approximately 2:00 a.m. local time (0700 GMT), about 13 km away.
“This was an act of targeted political violence,” Walz said at a Saturday press conference, calling Hortman’s death “a politically motivated assassination.”
The suspect, identified as 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter, remains at large, despite a massive manhunt involving hundreds of officers from federal, state and local agencies. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) offers a 50,000 U.S.-dollar reward for information leading to his arrest.
Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner, Bob Jacobson described Boelter as 1.85 metres tall with brown hair, last seen wearing a light-coloured cowboy hat and a dark long-sleeve shirt. “You should consider him armed and dangerous, and you should call 911 immediately,” Jacobson said.– NNN-XINHUA
