Melissa Hortman, a Minnesota lawmaker who was gunned down in what is described as a politically motivated attack, earned degrees at Boston University and Harvard.

The deadly, politically motivated shooting in Minnesota has a connection to the Triangle. Mark Hortman, the husband of Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman, was a Raleigh native. The Hortmans were shot and killed in an attack at their home in suburban Minneapolis early Saturday.

A dedicated volunteer who taught Sunday school and loved dogs. A lawyer who served as a Girl Scout Leader and worked at her dad’s auto parts store. A mother and wife whose husband was killed alongside her.

But there was a caring, apolitical gracefulness as well to Hortman, colleagues said. Garofalo said that in the days after the 2022 elections, when Democrats took control of state