His Dad Lost the Ability to Speak Due to ALS. Murdered Minn. Rep. Melissa Hortman Stepped In to Push for a Cure (Exclusive)

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.

Hortman, a Democrat, and her husband, Mark, were fatally shot in their home early on the morning of Saturday, June 14 in what Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said appeared to be a “politically motivated assassination.”

Also shot that morning were Sen. John Hoffman, also a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, who survived the shooting but remain hospitalized.

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.

“Melissa actually helped carry historic legislation, an ALS bill for $20 million to find a cure for ALS in Minnesota,” Dante Tomassoni says. “And she worked with the family and my dad. And at the time, as he was working through it, ALS had gotten him to the point where he couldn’t speak, he couldn’t move. So we worked with Melissa and she really, really helped get that bill across.”

Sen. Tomassoni died in 2022. Prior to his death, he knew Hoffman well, spending several years together in the state senate.

“He’s just a great person,” Dante says about Hoffman. “He really is. He’s the kind of legislator that really goes out of the way just to do the right thing.”

On social media, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar shared an update from Yvette Hoffman, who revealed that she was shot eight times, while her husband was shot nine times.

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Dante Tomassoni says his “heart sank” when he found out Hortman had been killed.

“She was very smart,” he says. “And she also had that goodness to her. You could just tell, yeah, she was a good person as well.”

Police arrested a suspect, 57-year-old Vance Boelter, in connection with the shootings on Sunday, June 15. He was charged with second-degree murder.