The names of U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers appeared on a hit list compiled by a man accused of fatally shooting a retired Wisconsin judge, according to U.S. officials and media reports today.

"Yesterday our office was notified by law enforcement officials that Governor Whitmer's name appeared on the Wisconsin gunman's list," a spokesman for Governor Whitmer told Reuters.

"While the news reports are deeply troubling, we will not comment further on an ongoing criminal investigation," he continued.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, retired judge John Roemer, 68, was discovered dead in his house on Friday after the local sheriff's office received a complaint regarding "an armed person and two shots fired in a Township of New Lisbon residence."

The department described the murder of the former judge as a "targeted" Douglas Uhde, 56, who was reportedly discovered in the basement of the Roemer residence with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The suspect was sent to the hospital, and a firearm was located at the crime site.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on Saturday (local) that the alleged gunman had a hit list that included McConnell, while an ABC News station said it also included Evers.

The tragedy represented the latest high-profile instance of gun violence in the United States, following recent mass shootings at a grocery store in New York, an elementary school in Texas, and a medical facility in Oklahoma in which dozens of people were killed.

Advocates for gun safety urge the U.S. government to implement more stringent restrictions to reduce gun violence.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Uhde remained in critical condition at a hospital.

"This ... does appear to be a targeted act and the individual who is a suspect appears to have had other targets as well," Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said during a news conference on Friday. "It appears to be related to the judicial system,"

In April, a federal jury acquitted two men planning to kidnap Whitmer in 2020 and was unable to reach a verdict for two other men charged with the same offense.