A candlelight vigil in remembrance of Democratic-Farmer- Labor Rep. Melissa Hortman and husband Mark Hortman will be held Wednesday night on the steps of the state Capitol in St. Paul after the couple was slain in what authorities are calling a political assassination in their Brooklyn Park home.

The vigil will be held from 8 to 9:30 p.m. and will not have a slate of speakers. People are asked to bring their own candles and not to bring signs of any kind. The Capitol building will be closed to the public during the vigil.

The Hortmans were shot and killed early Saturday, about 90 minutes after a gunman also shot and injured DFL Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, in Champlin. Between the two shootings, the gunman stopped at legislators’ homes in Maple Grove and New Hope. He found no one home in Maple Grove and was interrupted by a police officer in New Hope.

Tuesday afternoon on the U.S. Senate floor, Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith of Minnesota shared memories of the Hortmans.

The Hortmans were “great neighbors, wonderful friends, and great parents to their beloved children. … She was the epitome of what you want in a public servant. She was in it for all the right reasons,” Klobuchar said.

“She was a Girl Scout leader and taught Sunday school at her local Catholic church and was one of the first to raise her hand when anybody needed a volunteer for anything,” Klobuchar said of Melissa Hortman.

Smith said she hoped others would be inspired by Hortman’s life.

“She was funny, straight-forward and she was kind,” Smith said. “She was smart and driven and determined and she did well because she worked hard at everything she did.”

Smith said it was bitter to think that Hortman was only 55 and had many more contributions to make. She said Hortman “believed and acted on one of our most American values: The conviction that we all have a responsibility to one another and responsibility to contribute to our community.”

Other memorials

A memorial for the lawmakers has been created outside the Capitol and includes flowers, American flags, photos and handwritten messages.

Gov. Tim Walz ordered U.S. and Minnesota flags be flown at half staff in remembrance of Hortman, saying she “was a formidable public servant and a fixture of the state Capitol, who woke up every morning determined to make Minnesota a better place.”

Fundraising accounts also have been set up for both families.

A GoFundMe account (gofund.me/08964165) set up for the Hortmans’ adult children had raised more than $125,000 as of Tuesday evening.

A GoFundMe account (gofund.me/8f5ab066) set up for the Hoffmans’ medical expenses had raised more than $170,000 as of Tuesday evening.