THE suspect in the Minnesota shootings has been identified as a former appointee of Governor Tim Walz.

In the early hours of Saturday, a gunman posing as a police officer shot and killed Minnesota Rep Melissa Hortman and her husband at their home in Brooklyn Park.

He also shot Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette multiple times at their home in Champlin just hours beforehand, leaving them seriously injured.

Hoffman and his wife have both undergone surgery and are said to be in a stable condition.

As cops launch an extensive manhunt for the gunman, sources close to the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity, have said the suspect is 57-year-old Vance Boelter.

Boelter is a former appointee of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, per the Post.

Documents obtained by the outlet show that he was appointed by Walz in 2019 to serve on his Workforce Development Board for four years.

In 2016 he was on the Workforce Development Council under the previous Governor Mark Dayton.

Boelter allegedly posed as a police officer to gain entry to the lawmakers’ homes.

Walz led a press conference earlier on Saturday to confirm the deaths of Hortman and her husband Mark in what he called a “politically motivated assassination”.