Former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman will be laid to rest alongside her husband on Saturday, weeks after her “politically motivated assassination” stunned the nation.
Hortman, a Democrat who served as the speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2019 till her slaying, and her husband, Mark Hortman, were shot and killed in their Brooklyn Park home on June 14.
Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman, were also shot at their nearby home the same day. The Hoffmans survived the encounter.
Hortman, 55, her husband and their golden retriever, who was also killed in the attack, lied in state at the Minnesota Capitol rotunda on Friday. Hortman was the first woman to receive the honor at the state’s capital building, which drew thousands of mourners.
The pair’s funeral is expected to bring together some of the nation’s most prominent politicians, including former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The private services will be livestreamed on YouTube.
The attacks were part of what authorities described as long list of planned political onslaughts.
Authorities said that Vance Boelter, 57, the man charged in connection with the attacks, impersonated a law enforcement officer to carry out the shootings.
Officials said he approached the lawmakers homes wearing a vest, a blue long-sleeve shirt and what appeared to be a badge, to gain access to the properties and throw the lawmakers off their guards.
The shootings prompted the largest manhunt in the state’s history, with the dispersement of more than 200 law enforcement officers.
Authorities found Vance, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, two days after the shootings occurred, armed and crawling in a field in a sparsely populated stretch of Minnesota, according to officials.
Officials said they found a notebook that belonged to Boelter with a hit list of other politicians, particularly those who have vocally supported abortion. The list included politicians from states beyond Minnesota, including Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska and Iowa, according to authorities.
Boelter’s wife spoke out about the attacks for the first time on Thursday.
“We are absolutely shocked, heartbroken and completely blindsided,” she said in a statement through her attorney. “This violence does not at all align with our beliefs as a family. It is a betrayal of everything we hold true as tenets of our Christian Faith. We are appalled and horrified by what occurred, and our hearts are incredibly heavy for the victims of the unfathomable tragedy.”
The United States has become more accustomed to acts of political violence in recent years.
In 2020, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was the subject of a kidnapping plot. Last year, President Donald Trump faced two assassination attempts while he was running for office. And in April, an attacker firebombed Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence because of his position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hortman’s slaying prompted a rare form of unity among Democratic and Republican leadership, with the highest members of both parties, including President Donald Trump, condemning the attacks.
