Killed husband of slain Minnesota lawmaker grew up in Raleigh, graduated from UNC
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- Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed in suspected political attack.
- Mark Hortman attended high school in Raleigh and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill.
- Shooter impersonated officer; suspect Vance Boelter remains at large as of Sunday.
The murdered husband of a Minnesota lawmaker killed Saturday in a targeted shooting was a Raleigh native.
Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were killed Saturday at their home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. The deaths were announced by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in a press conference Saturday.
Rep. Hortman, a Democrat who served as the Minnesota Speaker of the House, had been a lawmaker for two decades in the state, currently serving in her 11th term.
Her husband, Mark Hortman, was 58. They had a son and a daughter.
He identified himself as a Raleigh native on his Facebook page. His LinkedIn profile shows he attended both NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1989.
Classmates of Mark Hortman said on Facebook that he attended West Millbrook Jr. High School and Millbrook High School, graduating in 1984.
In a phone interview Sunday afternoon, Millbrook classmate and friend Donna Friedrich Watkins remembered Hortman as a gifted math and science student and loyal friend who kept many lifelong friends from high school.
“The fact that he had so many friends for so long speaks volumes to the kind of person he was,” Watkins said. “He welcomed people into this friendly welcoming light. He smiled all the time. If you knew him you knew him.”
According to Hortman’s work history, he had lived in Minnesota for more than 30 years.
In announcing the murders, Walz said the shooting, “appeared to be a politically motivated assassination.”
Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, also were shot Saturday but survived.
Suspect Vance Luther Boelter was taken into custody Sunday night, Minnesota authorities said, after a two-day manhunt. According to law enforcement, he dressed as a police officer before shooting the Hortmans in their suburban Minneapolis home.
He has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder, The New York Times reported.
On Monday, federal officials said Boelter had gone to two additional houses the night of the shootings to carry out attacks, The Associated Press reported. He now faces additional federal murder and stalking offenses, The AP reported.
This story was originally published June 15, 2025 at 11:32 AM.
