The Hortman children are grieving following the Saturday killing of their parents, in what has been called a political assassination. Rep. Melissa Hortman was a longtime Democratic-Farmer-Labor legislator beloved around the Capitol even as she scored major legislative victories.

"The best way to honor our parents' memory is to do something, whether big or small, to make our community just a little better for someone else.”

The children of Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman are speaking out on their parents' murders. “They were the bright lights at the center of our lives, and we can’t believe they are gone," Sophie and Colin Hortman wrote in a statement obtained by PEOPLE Monday.