A Minnesota father allegedly slaughtered his wife and 7-year-old daughter inside a home daycare before killing himself while six other children were still in care.
The three family members were found Wednesday morning at Brown Bear Daycare in Hopkins after a parent arrived for drop-off and called police when he heard screaming coming from the basement.
Hopkins Police Chief Brent Johnson said the parent witnessed the incident. The witness reportedly thought that Nathan was administering CPR to Kristen, but then realized he was actually stabbing her with a screwdriver.
“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. “I think we can all relate, [those] who have children and those who don’t. This is just a tragic situation anywhere in the world, let alone here in Hopkins.”
The witness led his two children and two others safely outside, but ended up seeing Nathan stabbing his young daughter.
41-year-old Nathan Brown suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound, while his 41-year-old wife, Kristen Ann Brown, and their daughter Evie had stab wounds, Johnson said.
Kristen was running the daycare out of the home. The other children inside the daycare were unharmed and later returned to their families. The victims were not publicly identified.
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The Hopkins Police Department told Fox News Digital that the call involved “a report of a stabbing at a residence operating as a home daycare in the 200 block of Tyler Avenue North in Hopkins.”
Police said the public was not believed to be in danger.
“At this time, we believe there are no outstanding suspects and no ongoing threat to the public,” the department said. “This is an extremely tragic event for our community. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families affected by this devastating incident.”
The violence reached beyond the daycare. Hours after the Hopkins deaths, police in Burnsville went to a different home and found a 78-year-old woman stabbed to death.
Burnsville Police Chief Matt Smith said investigators believe she was a close relative of the man suspected in the daycare killings. The man had been living at the Burnsville residence, Smith said.
“We believe the tragedies in our two cities are linked,” Smith said.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said Wednesday that he had already contacted Hanlon and offered help.
“I know that our hearts and our prayers are with the people of Hopkins and any families that have been impacted,” Frey said, according to the station. “I have already touched base directly with Hanlon and offer any assistance we can provide.”
“The City of Minneapolis stands with Hopkins. We are not strangers to crisis, and when it takes place, we work together. That’s exactly what we’ll be doing here.”
The daycare killings were followed by another suspected murder-suicide in a school building, this time in Chicago.
Two custodians at Mark Twain Elementary School were found shot Monday afternoon, when no students were inside the building.
The Chicago Police Department said the victims were a 48-year-old woman and a 63-year-old man. Both had been shot once in the head and were pronounced dead after being taken to hospitals.
School principal Matthew Moline told parents in a letter that gunfire had erupted inside the building while students were not present, WTTW-TV reported.
“I am sorry to share that members of our school community were impacted,” Moline wrote.
Police audio from the scene described a woman in the hallway, a firearm next to the suspected shooter and an apparent suicide.
“In the hallway we have one female….The shooter shot himself in the head… [and] there is a firearm right next to the offender.”
SEIU Local 73, which represents Chicago Public Schools custodial employees, said both unidentified victims worked at Mark Twain Elementary School.
“The only facts we know right now are that two families have lost a loved one and our prayers are with their families, and the staff, students, and families at Mark Twain Elementary School,” SEIU Local 73 Executive Vice President Trumaine Reeves said in a statement.
The Chicago Sun-Times cited a police report that said the older custodian had been upset about an expected transfer from the school.
The newspaper said he allegedly killed his co-worker before shooting himself.
Video from inside the building allegedly captured the male custodian approaching the woman from behind and shooting her, then entering the school office and taking his own life.
Moline told parents that the school would keep them informed as more details became available.
“We know that this news will be deeply concerning to our families and staff,” Moline wrote. “We will work to provide additional information to the school community as the investigation proceeds.”
A third suspected murder-suicide unfolded inside a North Carolina home where a smartwatch helped summon emergency responders.
Stephen Larnell Willetts and Tracey Parker Willetts were found shot to death in their Wilmington home in early August.
The New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office said the evidence pointed to Tracey Parker Willetts killing her husband before taking her own life.
“Based on the evidence gathered during the investigation, detectives believe this to be a murder-suicide in which the wife fatally shot her husband before taking her own life,” the sheriff’s office said.
WWAY said one of the couple’s smartwatches “detected a fall and automatically called 911 after the alarm was not canceled, prompting the emergency response.”
The Willettses had recently marked their 40th wedding anniversary, according to their Facebook profiles.
Friends and neighbors said the couple had lived through the deaths of both sons within a year.
Zack died Feb. 2, 2013, at 23. His cause of death was not immediately clear. Colby died March 14, 2014, at 21 after a lifelong fight with muscular dystrophy.
