Ontario Premier Doug Ford has spoken with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to extend his condolences in the wake of a pair of shootings that saw a Democratic state lawmaker fatally shot in her home over the weekend.
Former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were killed in their home on Saturday by a suspect who allegedly dressed as a local police officer and drove what appeared to be a police vehicle. Senator John Hoffman, also a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, were also found with multiple gunshot wounds at their home, about 15 kilometres away.
- READ MORE: Prosecutors: Suspect in shooting of two Minnesota state lawmakers had planned to target two others
Walz has previously called Hortman’s shooting a “politically motivated assassination.”
The suspect, identified as 57-year-old Vance Boelter of Green Isle, Minn., surrendered himself to police after they found him in a field near his home following a near-two-day manhunt in Minneapolis. He is facing federal charges for murder and stalking, as well as state charges for murder and attempted murder.
On Monday, Walz expressed his gratitude to Ford, who he says called him personally to show his support to both the Hortman family and the state of Minnesota.
“In times of tragedy, I’m heartened when people of different views and even different nations can rally together around our shared humanity,” the Democratic governor wrote in a post on X.
In response, Ontario’s PC premier wrote: “All of Ontario is thinking of the Hortman family and our friends in Minnesota.”
All of Ontario is thinking of the Hortman family and our friends in Minnesota. https://t.co/0KIScMLm9L
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) June 16, 2025
This weekend’s shootings are just the latest in a series of attacks against U.S. lawmakers in both political parties.
In April, a suspect set Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s home on fire during the Jewish holiday of Passover. In July last year, U.S. President Donald Trump had a bullet graze his ear during a campaign rally, and in 2022 the husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was attacked in their San Francisco home.
With files from The Associated Press
