Senator Amy Klobuchar cried the two legislators of the Minnesota state shot early in their homes in what leaders call an “act of specific political violence,” calling them “friends” and “decent people” who were simply “trying to represent the people who were chosen to represent.”
The Minnesota Democrat told the “This Week” co -chapter of ABC News, Martha Raddatz, that people should “meet” the victims of political violence and threats, in this case, the state representative Melissa Hortman, who was killed along with her husband and state senator John Hoffman and his wife, who underwent surgery after the attack.
“He was a true leader, and I loved his work, but he was always so solid and such a decent person. I think that is probably the best word to describe her. You look at her photos and you know what it was. So we missed her a lot, and when you hear about statistics on political violence and threats, I just want people to know who we are talking about,” Klobuchar said about Hortman.
“Or Senator Hoffman. Equally respected. He entered politics because his daughter has spina bifida and could not get insurance, and he wanted to advocate for her. The decent people who did not deserve this to happen to them,” Klobuchar continued.
Senator Amy Klobuchar talks with ABC News while appearing this week on June 15, 2025.
ABC News
The authorities have identified Vance Luther Boelter, 57, as the alleged armed man and continue to look for him.
Klobuchar described Hortman as an illustrious compassionate legislator and public servant, who began his career in public service as a mother with young children who had a history working in his father’s auto parts company. Hortman juggled with the teaching of Sunday school, leading a Girl Scouts troop and training service dogs for veterans, Klobuchar said.
The senator said that she first met Hortman when she was a young legislator and that she was beaten with the way she could know “practically all people in her district.”
“Melissa Hortman was a woman who would like everyone to know it,” Klobuchar told Raddatz. “When you think of a true public servant that enters it for the right reasons, it is Melissa.”
Klobuchar said that Hortman’s ability to “juggle with everything” may have contributed to the political success that he had been able to obtain, especially in the last year with a divided legislature, when he worked together with the republican leader of the state Senate to ingeniously negotiate a budget and avoid the closure of the government.
When she was the homework of the house, Hortman also headed historical legislation as a paid family permit and a free lunch for the students, Klobuchar said.
Klobuchar called the suspicious “evil” and “intelligent” on Sunday.
“It’s evil. He’s intelligent. He has killed without thinking twice, and there is a reward of $ 50,000,” he told Raddatz.
The Minnesota Democrat praised cooperation between the leaders of Minnesota and the State Police.
“We could not get more police aid,” said Klobuchar, also applauding the rapid work of local police officers on the field, when they were registered in Hortman shortly after being called to Hoffman’s house.
“Those local police officers at that time not only seem to have saved [Hoffman] And his wife’s life, but had also given important advantages to who he was and why he was doing this, “said Klobuchar.
Klouchar said that “he has not seen” the list of objectives written by the gunman, something that the sources of the law say he had dozens of Minnesota Democrats.
Those who were on the list included the governor of the legislators of Minnesota, Tim Walz, the American representative Ilhan Omar, the American senator Tina Smith and the state attorney general Keith Ellison, according to sources of application of the law familiar with the matter.
Klobuchar described political violence as a “unbridled problem” and said “believes” that it could have been one of the motivations of the gunmen for the shootings in the Minnesota legislator.
“I think there are some things in the manifesto that would take you along that way to believe that this was one of their motivating forces,” said Klobuchar.
He also highlighted the bipartisan statement against political violence that the Delegation of the Minnesota Congress published after the shootings on Saturday.
“You talk with one voice to condemn this political violence. There is no place for this politically motivated violence in our democracy,” Klobuchar said Sunday. “This is an unbridled problem with which the public and we all have to deal with, and also against the judges, and we should all condemn all that violence,” he said.
