When the gunman in the shootings of two Minnesota lawmakers approached their homes early on Saturday morning, he was armed with not just a handgun but also a wealth of other gear: a black tactical vest, a badge, a flashlight, a Taser. He arrived in a black S.U.V. with flashing police lights.

Daylight was still two hours off when Brooklyn Park police approached the home of former Minnesota Speaker Melissa Hortman to find someone had beat them there.

The man suspected of shooting and killing a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband and shooting and wounding a second lawmaker and his wife is due in court.

Father Joe Whalen shared the community’s grief in a statement over the weekend, after state Rep. Melissa Hortman — who once taught Sunday school — and her husband, Mark, were murdered.

Gov. Tim Walz called the event a “politically motivated assassination," with the attack marking the latest such incident over the last several years.

Dozens of Minnesota Democrats were on a target list written by the gunman who allegedly shot and killed a state representative and shot and wounded a state senator in a targeted act of violence early Saturday,

Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman was shot in her Brooklyn Park home, while fellow party member Sen. John Hoffman was targeted roughly 8 miles away in Champlin, sources told 5 Eyewitness News. A manhunt is on for the suspect, who was wearing black body armor over a blue shirt and blue pants.