Minnesota shootings live updates: Suspect Vance Boelter remains in federal custody with bail set at $5m

Sophie and Colin Hortman, the children of Minnesota Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, who were killed in Saturday’s shootings, have shared a statement.

“We are devastated and heartbroken at the loss of our parents, Melissa and Mark. They were the bright lights at the center of our lives, and we can’t believe they are gone. Their love for us was boundless. We miss them so much.”

“We want everyone to know that we are both safe and with loved ones. We are grateful for the outpouring of love and support we have received, and we appreciate your respect for our family’s privacy as we grieve.”

“Our family would like to thank law enforcement for their swift action that saved others and for the coordination across communities that led to the arrest of the man who murdered our parents. We especially would like to thank the officers who were first on the scene to our parents’ home and their heroic attempts to rescue our mom and dad.”

“Our parents touched so many lives, and they leave behind an incredible legacy of dedication to their community that will live on in us, their friends, their colleagues and co-workers, and every single person who knew and loved them.”

If you would like to honor the memory of Mark and Melissa, please consider the following:

“Hope and resilience are the enemy of fear. Our parents lived their lives with immense dedication to their fellow humans. This tragedy must become a moment for us to come together. Hold your loved ones a little closer. Love your neighbors. Treat each other with kindness and respect. The best way to honor our parents’ memory is to do something, whether big or small, to make our community just a little better for someone else.”

Lisa Demuth, the Republican Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, is calling on her colleagues of both parties to “set the tone” and follow the example of her predecessor, the well-regarded Rep. Melissa Hortman, who was killed in Saturday’s shootings.

“We got along really well, and it’s because she started building that working relationship over the years,” Demuth told the Minnesota StarTribune on Monday. “Without that happening, it would have made this year a lot harder.”

“This person is completely a monster,” Demuth added of alleged gunman Vance Boelter. “No rational agreement or disagreement on any type of policy should ever lead to something like this.”

A senior staff member for Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota slammed Utah Senator Mike Lee over his posts appearing to mock the recent shooting of Democratic state lawmakers in Minnesota, as well as claim without evidence their killings were a Marxist attack.

“Why would you use the awesome power of a United States Senate Office to compound people’s grief,” the official wrote. “Is this how your team measures success? Using the office of [a] US Senator to post not just one but a series of jokes about an assassination — is that a successful day of work on Team Lee?”

Three days after shootings targeted state lawmakers, President Trump still hasn’t reached out to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the Democrat said on Monday.

Walz, who served as the vice presidential nominee on the Democratic ticket against Trump in 2024, said he wasn’t surprised.

“I think I understand where that’s at,” Walz told MPR. “I did speak to Vice President Vance, grateful for that call.”

“I’m always open to you know, people expressing gratitude,” he added. “Vice President Vance assured us, and he delivered, that the FBI would be there as partners with us to get it done. That was what needed to be done.”

The Minnesota shootings have not only traumatized family members and local leaders alike, but they also have altered what was previously the evenly divided partisan balance of the state’s House of Representatives.

With the killing of Melissa Hortman, the House’s top Democrat, Republicans now have a one-vote majority.

The governor will likely call a special election for Hortman’s seat before the next legislative session begins in February.

Democrats say this isn’t an immediate concern, though.

“There is no urgency to fill the seat,” Matt Roznowski, the director of communications and public affairs for the House of Representative’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, told The New York Times.

US Senator Tina Smith, Democrat of Minnesota, was seen confronting Senator Mike Lee of Utah on Monday in the Capitol, after the latter made posts on X in recent days spreading unverified information and appearing to mock the recent shooting of Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota.

“I think that he honestly, he seemed a little surprised to be confronted,” Smith told reporter Jamie Dupree of the conversation.

Here’s our report on the chaotic, often conspiratorial online discourse that followed the shooting, including Lee’s comments.

The Minnesota shootings have prompted serious discussions about the levels of political violence and threatening rhetoric in the US today, including condemnation of US Senator Mike Lee for posts that appeared to mock the slayings and claim that Marxists were responsible, despite no public evidence that is the case.

In parallel with these discussions, a North Carolina state rep is facing criticism for a post about the “No Kings” protests over the weekend many found inappropriate and violent.

The state’s Republican Party has called on Rep. Julie Von Haefen to resign, after she posted images of a local “No Kings” event including a demonstrator holding a sign featuring a beheaded Donald Trump and the slogan “some cuts may be necessary” along with a guillotine.

“The posts Rep. von Haefen shared do not show the judgement or temperament of someone to hold public office,” NCGOP Chairman Jason Simmons said in a statement. “For the good of her constituents to have effective representation, she should resign.”

The lawmaker later removed the photo.

“One of the images of a protester holding a sign was inappropriate, and I later edited the video to remove the photo. Some online sources have incorrectly reported that I am the person in the photo with the sign, which is not true,” von Haefen later told the Raleigh News and Observer. “Let me be clear: I condemn political violence in all forms. My focus remains on bringing people together and fighting for the values that matter to North Carolinians. Like so many, I was horrified by the violence in Minnesota. There is no place for that kind of extremism in our democracy, no matter the target, no matter the party.”

Melissa Hortman, 55, and her husband Mark, 58, were shot multiple times at their Brooklyn Park home in the early hours of Saturday by a man posing as a police officer. The same night, state senator John Hoffman, 60, and his wife Yvette were targeted and shot and wounded in a similar attack at their home.

Michelle Del Rey reports.

The other is a race to get in front of feverish conspiracy theories about the incident that are spreading across right-wing corners of the internet.