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Brooklyn Park police are investigating a break-in at the home of slain Minnesota House DFL leader Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark. 

The incident, reported Wednesday morning, comes days after the 

Hortmans were shot and killed in their home

 in what authorities are calling a politically motivated attack. 

Police said there was an overnight break-in at the residence, which had previously been processed by investigators and boarded up.

Authorities said they discovered plywood that had been covering a rear window at the home was pried off. The window was also broken to gain entry. Police said the home appeared to have been searched by an unknown individual, but nothing appeared to be missing. 

As of midday Wednesday, a Brooklyn Park police car and a Minnesota State Patrol squad car were parked outside the home. Neighbors said that they were dismayed by the break-in.

“It’s very sickening that someone would do this after what happened to her and her family. It’s terrible,” said Sarah Abuisnaineh.

Melissa Hortman’s parents, Harold and Linda Haluptzok, told MPR News they visited the home Wednesday morning after police notified them of the break-in, and were puzzled by what happened.

“We don’t know what they were looking for or wanted,” Harold Haluptzok said. “Thank God we’ve gone through two or three times to clean everything out.” 

Haluptzok said the home was damaged from the shooting. He said police fired tear gas into the home after initially 

Neighbors have made a makeshift memorial of flowers and photos on the Hortmans' lawn. 

Haluptzok said he was also pleasantly surprised that neighbors mowed the lawn, weeded Melissa Hortman’s flowers and picked up lilac trimmings that she left on the lawn the day before the incident. 

“It’s exactly what Melissa was,” he said. “A giving person, and they were giving people.”

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Estelle Timar-Wilcox

Tom Scheck

Brooklyn Park police are investigating a break-in at the home of slain Minnesota House DFL leader Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark. The incident was reported Wednesday morning.

Flowers sit in the yard and driveway near the street.

Estelle Timar-Wilcox | MPR News

A police vehicle is parked near a house that is boarded up.

Brooklyn Park police investigating break-in at Hortmans' home

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