In Hopkins, Minnesota, a tragic event unfolded as a man took the lives of his wife and their 7-year-old daughter at their in-home daycare. The couple owned the daycare where the incident occurred. The man then ended his own life, according to police. Prior to this, it’s believed he also killed a 78-year-old relative at her home.
The 41-year-old man fatally shot himself after stabbing his family at Brown Bear Childcare in Hopkins, a suburb of Minneapolis. Authorities confirmed that the six other children present were unharmed. A parent, having witnessed the attack, immediately called the police. Hopkins Police Chief Brent Johnson expressed the horror of the scenario at a news conference.
“There’s no worse scenario than this, where you drop off your child somewhere you think is safe, and you get that phone call,” Johnson said. “This is a tragic day and horrific scene for little children to witness, if they did witness this.”
Following the events at the daycare, officers in Burnsville, located 20 miles from Hopkins, responded to another crime scene. There, a woman was found fatally stabbed. Investigators believe this attack is connected to the first incident. The man reportedly lived with the older relative, but names have not been released yet. Johnson mentioned that no motive has been identified and there was no prior police involvement at the Hopkins address.
A neighbor, Amanda Marx, who lives nearby, did not realize something was amiss until noticing police attempts to enter the home forcefully. She saw officers calling for crime scene tape as young children were brought out of the house. The daycare was identified by its distinctive garage mural depicting a tree-lined lake and a moose.
The daycare, operating since 2019, has a state license and a capacity for 10 children. It had passed compliance visits in recent years. Johnson noted the rarity of such incidents in Hopkins, acknowledging the emotional impact on officers who responded to the scene.
For those in crisis, the U.S. national suicide and crisis line is reachable by calling or texting 988, or through an online chat at 988lifeline.org.
Rico contributed from Atlanta, with additional information from Ed White of the Associated Press in Detroit.
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