A democratic state legislator and her husband were killed early on Saturday in what seemed to be a “politically motivated murder”, while a second legislator and his spouse were injured in a separate attack, said the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz.
“An indescribable tragedy has been developed in Minnesota: my good friend and colleague, the speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, were shot dead this morning early in what appears to be a politically motivated murder,” he told journalists.
“Our state lost a great leader,” he said.
Walz said that in a second attack, Senator John Hoffman and his wife, from Champlin, received several shots, underwent surgery and was “cautiously optimistic” that he would survive “this attempt at murder.”
“This was an act of specific political violence,” he said. “Pacific discourse is the basis of our democracy. We do not resolve our differences with the violence or gun tip.”
The police authorities said the gunman was going through a police officer and escaped after exchanging fire with the police who responded to the attacks.
They said that a large -scale search for the suspect was underway.
Trump condemns the “terrible shooting” of legislators
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, condemned the “terrible shooting” of two state democratic legislators of Minnesota, one of whom was killed.
“I have been informed about the terrible shooting that took place in Minnesota, which seems to be an objective attack against state legislators,” Trump said in a statement.
“Such horrible violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America.”
