North Dakota state legislator dies in plane crash

North Dakota state Senator Doug Larsen, his wife Amy and their two children have died in a plane crash.

The Grand County Sheriff’s Office described the legislator as the pilot of the aircraft.

“Senator Doug Larsen, his wife Amy, and their two young children were killed in a plane crash in Utah last night,” North Dakota State Senate Majority Leader David Hogue said in an email to other senators Associated Press. “They visited family in Scottsdale and returned home. They stopped in Utah to refuel.”

“I’m not sure where bereavement begins in a tragedy like this, but I think it begins with prayers for the grandparents, Senator Larsen’s surviving stepchild, and Doug and Amy’s extended family,” Hogue noted. “Hold your family close today.”

According to one report, Larsen had served in the North Dakota Army National Guard for nearly three decades Press release from the office of North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum.

Burgum, who is currently running in the GOP presidential primary, said the state lawmaker was “a father, husband, coach, entrepreneur, businessman, senator and lieutenant colonel in the North Dakota National Guard who was fully committed to each of these roles .” an unshakable sense of honor and duty.

“As a legislator, he was a tenacious defender of individual rights and freedoms, which he defended through his military service,” the governor noted.

North Dakota National Guard Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Alan Dohrmann described Larsen as “a true patriot who dedicated his life, both in and out of uniform, to serving others.”

During one interview Larsen posted on YouTube last year that he was glad to have the chance to serve in office.

Senator Doug Larsen’s Straight Talk video podcastwww.youtube.com

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