HOPKINS, Minn. — A man who killed his wife and their 7-year-old daughter at a daycare in Minnesota is also suspected of killing a 78-year-old relative, police said Wednesday.
The 41-year-old man fatally shot himself after stabbing his wife and the child at a home in Hopkins where she operated a daycare, police said.
At an afternoon news conference, the police chief in Burnsville stepped forward and said a woman who was the man’s “close family relative” was also found dead at a home where they were both living.
No other children were physically harmed at the daycare.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
HOPKINS, Minn. (AP) — A father fatally stabbed his 7-year-old daughter and her mother at a home daycare they own in Minnesota before taking his life, police said Wednesday.
All six other children who were at the home have been reunited with their parents, and none were physically injured, according to authorities in Hopkins, a suburb of Minneapolis.
Hopkins Police Chief Brent Johnson said another parent called police after witnessing the attack while bringing a child to Brown Bear Childcare.
“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 at a news conference.
The police chief declined to release the victims’ identities or say how they died. He said he didn’t know the relationship between the two adults who owned the daycare, but the child who died is believed to be theirs.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — In the U.S., the national suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org
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Police and sheriff vehicles lined the otherwise quiet street where the daycare is located. The brown, two-story house has a mural on the garage door of a tree-lined lake and a moose. Photos on the daycare's Facebook page show kids playing with toys inside and in the backyard, with colorful decorations and artwork on the walls.
Amanda Marx, a nurse who lives across the street, didn’t realize anything was wrong until she noticed police officers trying to break down the home's front door.
She said officers moved behind the home before reappearing and calling for crime scene tape. Later, several young children emerged — one being carried by an officer.
Marx said she and her 7-year-old son always referred to it as the “garage house” due to the colorful mural. The longtime resident said she’d never met the home's owners and was unaware they were running a daycare. She didn’t recall any prior disturbances.
“I’m just trying to figure out how to explain to my 7-year-old why there’s crime scene tape on our deck,” she said.
Records show the daycare has been licensed by the state since 2019 and has a capacity of 10 children. It was found to be in compliance during visits in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Johnson said killings are a “rarity” in Hopkins and that his officers were shaken by the scene they found inside the home.
“I could see on the look on their faces that this was one of those ones that you’ll remember for your entire career, if not life,” Johnson said.
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Rico reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer Ed White in Detroit contributed.