Local news stations identified the victims as state senator John Hoffman and state representative Melissa Hortman. Both are members of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party. There is little information on the suspect at this time.

  • dormedas@lemmy.dormedas.com
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    2 days ago

    Now that’s a coup attempt right there.

    This is what years - decades - of dog whistling and a presidency who emboldens violence leads to.

  • TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com
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    2 days ago

    Why do they believe that is wasn’t a real cop that assassinated them ?

    I have no problem imagining a police officer abusing their authority and killing politicians for politlcal ends.

    It has happened repeatedly in the 20th and 21st century.

    • pixelpop3@beehaw.org
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      2 days ago

      Probably because they wouldn’t have bothered use forged credentials and a lookalike cop car? In any case the shooter has been identified as Lance Boelter (still at large) and apparently is actually not a cop. He was a Walz reappointee a government Workforce development committee until 2023, but supposedly now is an employee of a private security firm.

    • coyotino [he/him]@beehaw.org
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      2 days ago

      this is fucking me up. that is MY Speaker of the House. I’ve been getting her legislative update emails for years. I have never voted for her specifically on a ballot, but i’ve been voting for her team for over a decade now. She guided MN to passing all those amazing measures during the 2021-2022 session, stuff like universal free school lunches, state-mandated sick-and-safe work leave, and legalized cannabis. The kinda shit that gives me hope in local and state politics as an antidote for our national sickness. The DFL’s recent work was undoubtedly a group effort, and our state has many great leaders (like Tim Walz) that were necessary to see it through. But Hortman has been such a force, and I wonder if the DFL would have been nearly as productive in those two years without her at the wheel. I barely knew who she was as a person, but I am grieving this loss today.