The Brown Bear Childcare in Hopkins, Minn., where a man allegedly killed a woman and child (KSTP).
Cops in Minnesota are investigating an apparent double murder-suicide in which a husband killed his wife and his 7-year-old daughter at an in-home daycare in front of several young kids.
Authorities also say they are investigating the homicide of a 78-year-old woman about 15 miles away; that victim is a “close relative” of the man who killed his wife and daughter at the daycare. The same man is believed to be the suspect.
The Hopkins Police Department responded around 9 a.m. Wednesday to a stabbing at the Brown Bear Childcare on the 200 block of Tyler Avenue North. When they arrived at the home, cops discovered two adults, both 41, and a 7-year-old girl dead. Six other kids who were at the daycare were unharmed, Hopkins police Chief Brent Johnson said at a press conference.
The man stabbed the woman — who owned the daycare — and the child to death before turning a gun on himself, Johnson said. They were all related, the chief said. Johnson said the unharmed kids were all under the age of 5.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
A parent of one of the children saw the attack unfolding and called 911.
Authorities were still working to determine the motive of the slayings. The names of the suspect and victims have not been released.
The police chief called the incident a “horrific, tragic situation for any community.”
“There’s no worse scenario than this, where you drop off your child to somewhere you think is safe, and you get that phone call,” Johnson said.
Cops reunited the kids with their parents.
Johnson said he could tell the severity of the situation just by the looks of the first responders.
“This was a this was a tragic situation for them as well, and I could see on the look on their faces that this was one of those ones that you’ll remember throughout your entire career, if not life,” the chief said.
At around 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, hours after the daycare attack, Burnsville police responded to a home on Maple Island Road and Joplin Avenue, about 15 miles from the daycare. There, cops found the body of a 78-year-old woman who had been stabbed to death.
The man who killed his wife and daughter in the daycare is believed to have also killed the older woman earlier in the day. Cops declined to reveal the exact relationship between the man and woman other than saying they were close relatives.
He had been living with the victim in the Burnsville case. Police did not immediately release a motive.
Both cases remain under investigation.
The post ‘No worse scenario than this’: Man stabs wife, daughter to death at in-home daycare in front of other kids — and it wasn’t his first stop, cops say first appeared on Law & Crime.
