Minnesota Democratic State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband are dead after a shooting this morning.
Governor Tim Walz made the announcement during a press conference Saturday morning, calling it a "politically-motivated" shooting.
"This was an act of targeted political violence," Walz said. "Peaceful discourse is the foundation of our democracy. We don't settle our differences with violence, or at gunpoint."
Democratic State Senator Jeff Hoffman and his wife were both shot multiple times in a separate shooting, and both out of surgery. Walz and officials said they were cautiously optimistic about their conditions.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension says police exchanged gunfire with at least one suspect at the scene of one of the shootings, who is still at large at this time. Officials say this suspect was impersonating a law enforcement officer.
"A police officer and his partner pulled down the street when they arrived at Melissa's house," Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said. "They noticed that there was a police vehicle in the driveway with emergency lights on, and what appeared to be a police officer at the door coming out of the house. When our officers confronted them, the individual immediately fired upon the officers, who exchanged gunfire."
Police say the suspect had a vehicle similar to a police car, and also had a taser and badge. Bruley said the suspect fled on foot from the scene in Brooklyn Park. Officers searched the suspect's vehicle, and found a list of lawmakers and other officials inside.
"There was a manifesto that identified many lawmakers and other officials," Bruley said. "We immediately made alerts to the state, took action on alerting them and providing security where necessary."
The shootings took place in the Brooklyn Park, where a shelter-in-place order remains in effect, and Champlin neighborhoods.