VIDEO: Minnetonka Lawmakers React to Bin Laden Death

A team of Americans attacked and killed Osama bin Laden at a compound in Pakistan, President Barack Obama said during a late-night speech to the nation Sunday. 

"Justice has been done," the President declared. 

Bin Laden's death ends nearly a decade of searching for the al Qaida mastermind, who orchestrated the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks that killed thousands of Americans. Today local legislators responded to the news. 

"We are grateful for the talent, courage and wisdom of our leaders and our military," Sen. Terri Bonoff (DFL-Minnetonka) said. "We ask for God's blessing and protection as we join with our allies in the continuing pursuit of peace and democracy."

Rep. John Benson (DFL-Minnetonka) took to the Minnesota House floor Monday, asking his fellow lawmakers to stand for a moment of silent remembrance and thanksgiving to honor the 9/11 victims and to thank President Obama and the country's armed forces for, he said, bringing Osama bin Laden to justice. 

“We have been able to bring or provide a degree of justice to the families of the victims of 9/11, those who were murdered in the airplanes, those who were murdered in the Twin Towers, those who were murdered at the Pentagon and on the field in Pennsylvania,” he said. (See full video above)

Sen. David Hann (R-Eden Prairie/Minnetonka) reacted with cautious optimism to the news of bin Laden's death. 

"It's a great victory for our cause but it's certainly not the end," he told Minnetonka Patch on Monday. "It was a commitment made by President Bush to bring him to justice and that's now been done...We need to acknowledge the great service of not only President Bush in this effort but also President Obama." 

Bin Laden's death also closes a chapter of sadness and grief that has touched several local families.

Among those killed on Sept. 11, 2001, was Gordon "Gordy" McCannel Aamoth Jr., a Wayzata native and 1988 graduate of The Blake School. On 9/11, Aamoth, an investment banker, was working on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center's south tower. To read a full story on Aamoth, click . 

Bloomington native, Tom Burnett, Jr. also died on Sept. 11, 2011.  He was a passenger on hijacked United Flight 93, the plane that crashed in a Pennsylvania field on 9/11. Burnett lived with his wife and three daughters in California, where he worked for a medical research and development company. Burnett graduated from Bloomington's Ridgeview Elementary School, Olson Middle School, and Thomas Jefferson High School. He was 38. 

Thousands of American soldiers have also died in the warfare spurred by the 9/11 attacks, including Chief Warrant Officer Jonah McClellan and Staff Sergeant David Day. Both men were from St. Louis Park. McClellan was killed in Zabul province, Afghanistan, on Sept. 21, 2010. Day lost his life in Baghdad on Feb. 21, 2005.

Marine Cpl. Tyler R. Fey, 22, of Eden Prairie was killed during combat on April 4, 2004, in Anbar Province. He was a 2000 graduate of Richfield’s Academy of the Holy Angels. He was the fifth Minnesotan to die in Iraq. 

Army Sgt. 1st Class Mickey E. Zaun, 27, of Brooklyn Park, died in an armored vehicle accident on Jan. 28, 2005, in Mosul, Iraq. He had been assigned to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. 

Marine Lance Cpl. Scott Modeen, 24, of New Hope was one of 10 soldiers killed Dec. 1, 2005, at a patrol base in Fallujah.