Within hours of the shooting of two lawmakers and their spouses in the US state of Minnesota, social media posts began claiming, without evidence, that Governor Tim Walz ordered a "political hit" on his rivals,

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says former state House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot and killed in a politically motivated assassination, and a second lawmaker and his wife were shot and wounded.

A Minnesota lawmaker and her husband were shot and killed in their home early Saturday by someone posing as a police officer and a second lawmaker and his wife were wounded in what Gov. Tim Walz described as “targeted political violence.