One year after a gunman killed Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, fellow lawmakers and others paused Friday, June 20, 2026, to honor the couple — while at least one state senator who was also targeted in the attack reflected publicly on what that year has looked like.
Hortman, who served as speaker of the Minnesota House, was murdered alongside her husband in what authorities described as a targeted assault on elected officials. Another state senator was among those the gunman went after that day. That senator spoke out this week about the anniversary.
The attack
The shooting struck at the center of Minnesota’s state government — a sitting House speaker, killed along with her spouse. It wasn’t random. The gunman had targeted lawmakers specifically, and more than one of them was in the crosshairs. That detail has stayed with survivors in the year since.
NPR reported Friday on how those connected to Hortman are marking the occasion, including the senator who survived being targeted and has now spent twelve months living with the aftermath of that day.
Hortman’s death left a vacancy at one of the most visible positions in Minnesota’s legislature. The circumstances of her murder — a direct attack on a sitting speaker — drew attention far beyond Minnesota’s borders when it happened in June 2025.
How Minnesota’s legislature has handled the vacancy, and whether the gunman faced trial or died before one, wasn’t immediately clear from the information available Friday.
Reported by NPR. Read the original report.
