How did the attacks and murders happen in Minnesota?

An armed man pretending to be a police officer killed a senior member of the Democratic State Assembly and her husband Saturday in a murder that seems to be politically motivated and injured a second lawmaker and his wife, said Minnesota Mayor Tim Walz, and law enforcement officials.

A broad FBI-backed search was under way for the suspect, who fled on foot after shooting police and abandoned a vehicle in which officers found a letter containing lawmakers and other officials, law enforcement officials said.

A police official said there were <x0 people with the interest we're looking for”.

The pre-dawn killings in Minnesota come amid an increase in US political attacks in recent years, highlighting the dark side of political divisions in the country. Planned protests against Trump in Minnesota organised throughout the country by coalition “Without the King” they were cancelled after the shooting, the group said.

President Donald Trump said he was informed of the terrible <x0 shots that took place in Minnesota, which appears to be an attack on state lawmakers”.

A violence that terrible will not be tolerated in the United States. God bless the great people of Minnesota, a truly great place!”, he said in a statement.

Democrat member of the State Assembly Melisa Hortman, a former speaker of the assembly, and her husband, Mark, were shot dead in their home on the outskirts of Minneapolis, Brooklyn Park, told reporters Walz and law enforcement officials.

Her official website says they have two children.

Walz said the gunman went to Hortman's residence after shooting Senator John Hoffman and his wife at their home in the nearby town of Champlin several times.

They underwent an operation, Walz said, adding that he was <x0-optimist” that they would survive.

This was an act of violence with political goals”, he said. The peaceful Dix2 is the foundation of our democracy. We don't settle our differences by violence or weapons”.

Law enforcement officials said the armed person attacked the Hoffmann family around 2am and then drove about five miles to the Hortman residence.

Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said that a police sergeant who responded to the Huffman attack urged colleagues to search “in a pro-active way” Hortman residence.

The two officers who arrived at the Hortman residence noticed what seemed to be a police vehicle parked at the entrance of the house with the emergency lights lit up and an individual dressed and equipped as a police officer leaving the house, he said.

Suspect “immediately fired on officers, who exchanged shootings and the suspect withdrew back home”, Bruley continued.

The suspect, who wore a vest with a firearm, other police equipment and a badge, is believed to have left the back of the house, he said. The Hortmans and Hoffmans were on the list of names found in the suspect's car, officials said.

Recent political violence in the United States has occurred in so-called battlefield states like Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Minnesota has been Democratic in the recent presidential elections, but Trump and Republicans have achieved considerable progress, Reuters writes. /Periscopi