Police Report Break-In at Late Representative Hortman’s Home
Brooklyn Park police tell CCX News they are looking for a person who broke into the boarded-up home of late Rep. Melissa Hortman.
Police said an unknown person entered through the back of the home during overnight hours. Brooklyn Park police were alerted of the break-in at 8 a.m. Wednesday.
Family members told police they don’t believe anything is missing, as they had retrieved items of value on Tuesday.
A neighbor who spoke with CCX News called the break-in “beyond disrespectful.”
“There were 20 of us from the neighborhood yesterday that cleaned up the yard and cut the grass and trimmed flowers and pulled weeds and got the property looking good and decent again for her family,” said Geoff Olinyk, a neighbor. “And these jack-wagons had to go break into the house last night.”
Police urged neighbors to check cameras from the last day to see if they noticed anything suspicious preceding the break-in.
Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, were both shot and killed by a suspect who law enforcement officials said was targeting lawmakers.
Brooklyn Park police encountered the suspect when they went to check on the Hortmans’ safety following a shooting at the home of Sen. John Hoffman in Champlin.
The suspect, identified as Vance Boelter, exchanged gunfire with Brooklyn Park police. Boelter was able to escape through the back of the Hortmans’ home, police said. He was arrested near his home in Green Isle, Minn., following a 43-hour manhunt.
Brooklyn Park Neighborhood ‘Devastated’
Olinyk said the Hortmans were “great neighbors” and would help anyone out when they could.
“When the gal across the street bought that house and didn’t have a snowblower, Mark was one of the first ones over there to blow snow in their driveway and help them out,” said Olinyk. “The whole neighborhood here is devastated.”
Added Olinyk, “It’s a sad day for the state of Minnesota and especially for us neighbors who were so close to them.”
Link to related CCX News stories: Melissa Hortman Assassination Coverage
