The children of Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman are speaking out on their parents' murders. “They were the bright lights at the center of our lives, and we can’t believe they are gone," Sophie and Colin Hortman wrote in a statement obtained by PEOPLE Monday.

The children of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, released a statement after the death of their parents.

Vance Boelter, the man accused of shooting two Minnesota state legislators and their spouses, visited the homes of four lawmakers over the course of a few hours early Saturday. Federal prosecutors have charged Boelter,

Before her death, Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman helped train service dogs for veterans. One veteran said her support gave him a second life.

When a longtime Minnesota lawmaker died after a battle with ALS, former state House Speaker Melissa Hortman helped pass historic legislation in search of a cure.

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

Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, were shot and killed early Saturday morning in “what appears to be a politically-motivated assassination,” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said at a news conference Saturday.

Boelter, 57, was arrested at about 9 p.m. June 15. He is accused of shooting the two Democratic state legislators and their spouses in the early morning hours of June 14. The Minnesota State Patrol took him into custody in rural Sibley County,