Minnesota House Democratic Caucus Leader Melissa Hortman speaks with reporters at the state Capitol in St. Paul on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar remembered fellow Minnesota Democrat Mellissa Hortman, who was fatally shot in her home early Saturday morning alongside her husband, Mark, as a “true public servant.”
“I just wish everyone in the world, the political world, knew this woman like we know her in Minnesota, loved by Democrats and Republicans,” Klobuchar said of Hortman, who was a member of the Minnesota House since 2005.
“We started out together in politics, moms with young kids, and somehow she was able to balance getting to know everyone, door knock every house in her district, while raising two children,” she continued on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Klobuchar said she was at a dinner with Hortman the night before a gunman impersonating a police officer killed her and her husband in an act officials are calling a “politically motivated assassination.”
A massive manhunt continues Sunday for the suspect, who officials have identified as 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter.
The suspect also shot State Senator John A. Hoffman, a fellow Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, in a separate attack at their home early Saturday morning.
Klobuchar said Sunday that the couple was “hanging in there.”
She said that Hoffman may need “additional surgeries,” but he is currently in stable condition.
Klobuchar said that authorities believe the suspect could still be in the Midwest, and that they’ve put out an alert in South Dakota.
“We believe he’s somewhere in the vicinity and that they are going to find him,” Klobuchar said.
Klobuchar emphasized that if anybody in the public spots the suspect, they should “not approach him.”
“My concern is that this guy is going to come up against just an innocent, try to take their car, try to go into their house right now,” Klobuchar said.
“A lot of the political leaders in our state have received extra protection, but not the innocents out there,” she added.
Authorities discovered a “manifesto” in the suspect’s car that included several names of officials and lawmakers.
Klobuchar said that she has received additional security without her request.
