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.

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

Melissa Hortman’ s influence at the Minnesota Capitol and her power as a Democratic leader to shape the course of a deeply divided Legislature were a far cry from her job as a teenager making chili-cheese burritos and overshadowed her volunteer work training service dogs for veterans.

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.

The man suspected of shooting state Rep. Melissa Hortman, state Sen. John Hoffman and their spouses was arrested after a two-day manhunt.

Two senators say the shooting shows it's time to address how people's private information is sold and shared online.