Child, 2 adults dead in apparent murder-suicide at Hopkins daycare
Police say a killing in Burnsville may be related
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A child and two adults were killed Wednesday morning in an apparent murder-suicide at a Hopkins daycare. Burnsville police also believe a 78-year-old woman found dead Wednesday is connected to the Hopkins killings.
“This is an extremely tragic event for Hopkins or any community,” Hopkins police Chief Brent Johnson told reporters at a 4 p.m. briefing. “When children are involved it’s especially devastating.”
Johnson said officers responding to a call around 9 a.m. about a stabbing arrived at the home of the daycare to find a 41-year-old woman and a 7-year-old girl with stab wounds in the basement. Officers discovered a 41-year-old man in an upstairs room with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
They determined that the man and woman owned the daycare and that the 7-year-old was their daughter. Johnson described the man and woman as a husband and wife but said later their marital status was unclear.
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He said a person coming to the daycare to drop off their child witnessed some of the attack and identified the man to police as the “perpetrator.”
Later in the day, Burnsville police were called to a residence where the body of the 78-year-old woman was discovered. Burnsville police Chief Matt Smith said the woman was a “close relative” of the suspected killer in Hopkins and that he had been living with her at that residence.
Johnson said there'd been no prior contact with the suspected killer and no prior police calls to the daycare or the home.
Officials emphasized there is no ongoing threat to the public. Johnson said investigators are still looking for a motive. The man who shot himself did not leave a note, he added.
Johnson said there were six other children in the daycare on the 200 block of Tyler Avenue North at the time of the attack and that none were physically injured. They were reunited with their family members, Johnson said, earlier describing them as “very young” children, likely age 5 or younger.
While the daycare operation was in the home’s basement where the woman and the girl were found stabbed, Johnson said he didn’t know if any of the children witnessed the attack.
Authorities said they’ll release more information as the investigation continues and that the names of those killed will be released later by the medical examiner.
Hopkins Mayor Patrick Hanlon said area daycare operators have reached out with offers to take in the six children for free while their families search for alternative arrangements.
Hopkins, he added, will hold a vigil at some point to remember the mother and daughter killed.
“This city has shed a lot of tears today over this incident, this immense loss,” he said.
A 24-hour statewide sexual violence and domestic violence hotline is available in Minnesota. You can call Minnesota Day One at (866) 223-1111 or text (612) 399-9995 to connect to resources closest to where you live.
