A woman lays flowers at a makeshift memorial for State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark at the Minnesota State Capitol building on Monday. The two were shot in their home early Saturday morning by a man impersonating a police officer.Steven Garcia/Getty Images
Mourners filed past the front steps of the Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul on Monday, fighting back tears and laying flowers in honour of the Democratic lawmaker who was killed over the weekend.
State Representative Melissa Hortman’s friends and colleagues, and even tourists, took a moment to read messages of love and loss left by others. Among those who arrived was a tearful Governor Tim Walz, who paused to read the notes, posters and photographs placed inside the capitol commemorating Ms. Hortman’s life, and achievements as a 20-year veteran of Minnesota politics.
Ms. Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot in their home in a quiet neighbourhood of Brooklyn Park, early Saturday morning by a man impersonating a police officer, law-enforcement officials said. John A. Hoffman, a Democratic state senator, and his wife, Yvette, were also shot in their home but survived.
Police on Sunday evening caught and arrested the suspect, Vance Boelter, after a two-day search, the largest in Minnesota’s history. Mr. Walz has said that the shooting appeared to be a “politically motivated assassination.” The precise motive is not yet known.
Vance Boelter was arrested Sunday evening and charged with two counts of murder and two of attempted murder.
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Patrick Brick, a Minnesota resident who placed flowers at the growing memorial, said he has been following the legislature for a while and really “got into it” when Ms. Hortman became the speaker.
“I saw that how much of a leader Melissa Hortman was, she was just a very strong leader, very compassionate and very effective, too,” he said Monday.
A photo of the lawmaker and a bouquet of roses were installed at her seat in the House Chamber. In the hallways of the state capitol building, employees could be seen hugging and wiping their eyes.
Claire McFarlane/The Globe and Mail
Ms. Hortman, 55, was the top Democratic lawmaker in the Minnesota House of Representatives, serving six years as speaker. Her political career began in 2004 when she defeated Republican incumbent Stephanie Olsen to gain a seat in the House, quickly becoming a well-respected member of her party.
During her tenure, she helped to expand protections for abortion and gender-affirming care and advocated for stricter gun control.
Mr. Boelter, 57, appeared in federal court on Monday, where the judge set a preliminary hearing for June 27. He is being charged by federal prosecutors with murder and stalking, which could result in a death sentence if convicted.
Mr. Boelter has also been charged by state prosecutors with two counts of second-degree murder for the killing of Ms. Hortman and her husband, and two counts of attempted second-degree murder for shooting and wounding Mr. Hoffman and his wife.
The weekend manhunt for Mr. Boelter eventually brought police to rural Sibley County, where they found a car and a hat believed to have belonged to him.
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A police officer saw the suspect running into the woods, said Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley. Police searched for hours using a helicopter and officers on foot until he was captured near the home where he lived with his wife and children outside Green Isle, an hour’s drive from where the shootings took place.
New details of Mr. Boelter’s plans were revealed by authorities at a news conference. Before going to Ms. Hortman’s home, he visited houses of two other Democrat politicians in a campaign to “inflict fear” and kill, alleged Joseph H. Thompson, acting U.S. attorney for the district of Minnesota.
The U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement that Mr. Boelter repeatedly knocked at the door of the Hoffmans, claiming to be a police officer. When they opened the door, they were “alarmed” to see that Mr. Boelter was wearing a face mask and tried to close the door on him. Mr. Boelter then repeatedly shot the couple, the statement said.
At the memorial outside the state capitol on Sunday, Mark Montgomery, a visitor from Oregon who was in town for a conference, said he came because “this isn’t okay.”
That such killings “are happening kind of shocked me out of my complacency, and reminded me pretty starkly that when things like this are happening, if you just sit back and don’t respond and don’t show up, then you are complicit in what’s going on.”
With a report from the Associated Press and Reuters.