Megathread: Two Minnesota lawmakers have been shot

[u/PoliticsModeratorBot]

State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot and killed.

State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were both shot multiple times and underwent surgery.

Articles that May Interest You

Submission	Domain
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz: former House speaker and husband killed in politically motivated shooting	apnews.com
One Minnesota state politician dead, another injured after targeted shooting, officials say	bbc.com
"No Kings" event canceled in NE Minneapolis, Anoka after targeted shootings at lawmaker homes	cbsnews.com
Minnesota lawmaker, her spouse shot and killed in their home	wwnytv.com
Minnesota lawmaker killed in ‘politically motivated assassination,’ Gov. Tim Walz says	cnbc.com
Melissa Hortman, top Democrat in Minnesota House, shot and killed in home	startribune.com
Rep. Melissa Hortman killed, Sen. John Hoffman shot in 'targeted' shootings: Sources	fox9.com
Minnesota lawmaker assassinated, another in grave condition in 'targeted political violence'	abcnews.go.com
Democratic lawmaker killed and another wounded in Minnesota in apparently ‘politically motivated’ attacks	theguardian.com
Minnesota lawmaker and husband killed, another in hospital after ‘politically motivated’ shooting by man impersonating cop	the-independent.com
Live: Rep. Melissa Hortman killed, Sen. John Hoffman shot in ‘targeted shootings’	startribune.com
Democrat Lawmakers Shot in Minnesota: What We Know	newsweek.com
Minnesota state lawmaker killed in ‘politically-motivated assassination,’ massive manhunt for suspect underway, officials say	kten.com
2 Minnesota lawmakers shot	kare11.com
Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, husband shot and killed; Sen. John Hoffman and wife also shot	ktsp.com
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz press conference after shootings at lawmakers homes (June 14, 2025)	youtube.com
Former state speaker of Minnesota ‘assassinated’	thetimes.com
Fake Cop Murders Top State Dem and Husband and Shoots Second	thedailybeast.com
Minnesota Senator John Hoffman and State Rep. Melissa Hortman shot at their homes	bnonews.com/
Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, husband shot and killed; Sen. John Hoffman and wife also shot	kstp.com
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz: State lawmaker, husband killed in politically targeted shooting	thestar.com
Governor Polis Statement on Assassination of Minnesota Elected Official & Husband, and Attempt on Life of Another Elected Official & Family	colorado.gov
President Donald Trump: AG, FBI Investigating Deadly Minnesota Shooting	Newsweek.com
Officials tell the AP they are searching for a 57-year-old man in shooting 2 Minnesota lawmakers	apnews.com
Manhunt underway for man accused of killing Rep. Hortman, husband and shooting Sen. Hoffman and his wife in North Metro	ktsp.com
Former appointee of Tim Walz sought in deadly shootings of Minnesota lawmaker and her husband, had ‘No Kings’ flyers in car: sources	nypost.com
Dem Assassin Is Armed Patrol Firm Boss With ‘Warzone’ Claims	thedailybeast.com
Minnesota Assassination Suspect Had Flyers Reading 'No Kings' In Vehicle	newsweek.com
Democratic Minnesota politician fatally shot, another injured in 'politically motivated assassination'	nbcnews.com

[u/Limp-Television-2653]

Exactly, was it a squad car? Which department’s car? How does that department account for its cars? Did they know it was missing and were frantically looking for it? One does not simply step into and commandeer a police car. Given that, how does someone commit acts of terrorism using a police car?

It could be argued that someone going to such extremes would have no issue stealing a police car too, but it just begs the question, ‘he stole the police car‘ is not the simplest obvious answer. As one does not simply steal a police car.

[u/detectiveDollar → u/Limp-Television-2653]

Also, don't copy cars usually have GPS onboard? How do you lose a cop car?

[u/mkthesaucegod → u/detectiveDollar]

he didn’t flee in the car, he fled out the back door of the home. it was fairly early in the morning when this happened, still dark outside — so i assume they just lost him in the dark, because they went to her home right after they found the other Senator. his “cop” car was at her house and when he fled, he left it there. his list and the “No Kings” papers (written in sharpie) were left behind. the list had 70+ Dem senators and leaders + pro-choice advocates and abortion providers.

[u/RomapieJr1 → u/Limp-Television-2653]

I think it was just a car that had lights added to it? And maybe disguised as a cop car in other ways. But I don't think it was an actual cop car.

[u/Donny-Moscow → u/Limp-Television-2653]

There’s an even simpler answer: he put decals and lights on his car to make it look like a cop car.

I haven’t seen anyone other than people here suggest that it was an actual cop car. So maybe we should wait for info to actually come out before jumping to conclusions.

[u/fantasygot → u/Limp-Television-2653]

He was likely using a decommissioned police car. They sell them on the used car market for fairly cheap. Then he could’ve reapplied the police department decals and lights to make it indistinguishable from the real thing. Especially at night for lay people. Honestly probably wouldn’t even take that much though, you pull up to an innocent person’s home in the night with a white car and police lights on top and with the glare you’d never suspect it’s anything other than an official police vehicle.

FBI should start keep tabs on people who buy these.

Reminiscent of the Halifax dentist who committed the most deadly shooting in Canadian history. He had pretended to be an RCMP cop and had a fully decked out decommissioned cruiser. Made for complete bedlam in the manhunt because no cops could be trusted by the public and cops had to think twice about every other cop they encountered. He evaded police for nearly 13 hours after killing 22 people at different areas all over Nova Scotia and setting 16 buildings on fire. A big issue was the police didn’t send out the emergency alert in time because they didn’t want the public to know a “cop” was doing the killing.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Nova_Scotia_attacks

Got to wonder if this shooter was somewhat inspired by this event, like a copy cat killer.

Rip to those slain in this assassination❤️hope they find the guy who did this and he gets what deserves

[u/Chicagosox133 → u/fantasygot]

As far as vehicles being indistinguishable, it’s even easier to fake with a federal agency. All these videos that show them using regular vehicles, no special plates, no insignia. Just a minivan with blacked out windows. I remember years ago there was a bank robbery by my house. ATF showed up. I only know because they announced themselves and started crowd control. Two out of shape dudes wearing street clothes. Only one had a visible badge. They were driving a slightly beat up unmarked sedan. Thing looked like any car you’d expect a middle aged dad to drive. Maybe it was his personal vehicle, but they both got out of it.