Candlelight vigil honoring Mark and Melissa Hortman draws hundreds to Minnesota State Capitol: “She was a fighter”

Lawmakers and the public gathered at the Minnesota State Capitol Wednesday night to honor Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, who were fatally shot over the weekend in what authorities called a political assassination.

As a brass quintet from the Minnesota Orchestra played, Gov. Tim Walz wiped away tears and comforted attendees at the gathering for former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, who were killed early Saturday in the northern Minneapolis suburbs.

Walz has described Hortman as his closest political ally and “the most consequential Speaker in state history.”

“She stuck up for people’s rights. She was a fighter,” Marie Hagerty, from Oakdale, Minnesota, said. “She had good friends in the representative office. She tried to reach across both sides of the aisle.”

Wednesday’s vigil also included a Native American drum circle, a string quartet and the crowd singing “Amazing Grace.”

The memorial, which sprang up outside the Capitol after the killings, features flowers, American flags, photos of Hortman and sticky notes with such messages as, “Thank you for always believing in me and in Minnesota,” and “We got this from here. Thank you for everything.”

“It still seems so surreal that this happened here,” Louis Boutcher, from Oakdale, Minnesota, said. “This is Minnesota. It shouldn’t happen here. It shouldn’t happen anywhere, but it’s just different.”

Around the gathering, there was a heavy police presence, with law enforcement blocking off streets leading up to the Capitol and state troopers standing guard.

The event did not have any scheduled speakers and attendees were instructed not to bring signs.

The University of Minnesota held a midday memorial gathering on the Minneapolis campus.

Rebecca Cunningham, the university’s president, spoke during the event about the grief and outrage people are grappling with, along with questions about how things got to this point.

“I don’t have the answers to these questions, but I know that finding answers starts with the coming together in community as we are today,” she said.

The Hortmans were shot and killed at their Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, home around 3:30 a.m. Saturday, officials said. The man accused of their killings, Vance Boelter, faces federal and state charges. He is also accused of shooting Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette, who both survived, and allegedly visited at least two other lawmakers’ homes. 

Hortman was in her 11th term in the Minnesota Legislature, having first been elected in 2004. She served as speaker emerita of the House, and Walz called her “the most consequential Speaker in state history.”

In an interview with CBS News, Melissa Hortman’s mother, Lisa Haluptzok, said the pain of her daughter’s death is “mind-numbing.”

“It’s been very hard the last few days,” her brother, Patrick Haluptzok, said. “In what seems unfair and tragic, the way her last night was spent. We’re just trying to get by.”  

The Hortmans’ children, Sophie and Colin, said they were “devastated and heartbroken,” but offered ways for the public to honor their memory, including planting a tree, petting a dog and standing up for what you believe in, “especially if that thing is justice and peace.”

The Hortmans received a formal procession through the Twin Cities on Tuesday. Funeral details have not yet been announced.