From the wooden dais in the Minnesota House, then-Speaker Melissa Hortman presided two years ago over what many called the most consequential legislative session in recent history. She helped orchestrate the passage of long-held Democratic goals: increased education spending,

The Hortman children are grieving following the Saturday killing of their parents, in what has been called a political assassination. Rep. Melissa Hortman was a longtime Democratic-Farmer-Labor legislator beloved around the Capitol even as she scored major legislative victories.

Friends and colleagues mourning Melissa Hortman hailed the longtime Democratic legislator as a dedicated public servant, a straight-talking and savvy political operator and a kind and committed colleague,

Sophie and Colin Hortman are responding to the fatal shooting of their parents, Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and Mark Hortman.

"The best way to honor our parents' memory is to do something, whether big or small, to make our community just a little better for someone else.”

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.