He wounded Sen. John Hoffman and his wife but didn’t come into contact with the two other DFL legislators, investigators say.

Melissa Hortman, a Minnesota lawmaker who was gunned down in what is described as a politically motivated attack, earned degrees at Boston University and Harvard.

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan remembers her colleague state rep. Melissa Hortman who was assassinated at her home Saturday, reflecting on the lasting impact Hortman had on state affairs.

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.

Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot and killed, and State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were injured in what Gov. Tim Walz called "politically motivated" shootings.

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,

Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, lost their life in a fatal shooting in their home in the northern Minneapolis suburbs.

In an interview with PEOPLE, Dante Tomassoni, the son of late state Sen. David Tomassoni, says Hortman was instrumental in crafting legislation that went toward ALS research while his father was afflicted with the disease. Related: Suspect Vance Boelter Caught, Charged with Second-Degree Murder in Minnesota Lawmaker Shootings