Police said they are looking for a single suspect, 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter. They did not give details on a possible motive.
A former political appointee, Boelter was once a member of the same state workforce development board as Hoffman.
“We don’t know the nature of the relationship or if they actually knew each other,” said Mr Evans.
Chief Mark Bruley of the Brooklyn Park Police said authorities found a manifesto and a target list of individuals in the suspect’s vehicle.
US Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota, a Democrat, was on the list, a spokesman for her office confirmed to BBC.
Boelter is a security contractor who has worked in Africa and the Middle East, according to an online CV. He has also had managerial roles at firms in Minnesota.
He texted a troubling message to friends at a Minneapolis residence, where he had rented a room and would stay one or two nights a week, the Minnesota Star Tribune reports, external.
Boelter said: “I’m going to be gone for a while. May be dead shortly, so I just want to let you know I love you guys both and I wish it hadn’t gone this way.”