The attacks on two Democratic Minnesota state lawmakers at home are the latest in a grim spike in political violence.

One of the debilitating aspects of any violence is how final and definitive it is and how anemic any response to it feels. Capturing and trying the alleged culprit are necessary next steps but nothing unwinds what was done.

Daylight was still two hours off when Brooklyn Park police approached the home of former Minnesota Speaker Melissa Hortman to find someone had beat them there.

A manhunt is underway for the gunman who was impersonating a police officer and had a list of possible targets, officials said.

U.S. Capitol Police increased security for Klobuchar and Smith following the attacks, which occurred early Saturday morning. Minnesota's entire congressional delegation, both Republicans and Democrats, released a joint statement condemning the killings.

The assassination of a Democratic Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband and the shooting of another lawmaker and his wife at their homes are just the latest addition to a long and unsettling roll call of political violence in the United States.

While Washington hosted a military parade, large crowds gathered across the country Saturday to peacefully protest President Donald Trump’s policies. The threat of violence – and news of a political assassination in Minnesota – added to tensions.

A suspect has been caught in the wake of the Minnesota lawmaker shootings involving the deaths of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark and the injury of Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette.