Police say a man, woman and child are dead in what is being investigated as a potential murder-suicide Wednesday morning at an in-home daycare in Hopkins that officials say is linked to a homicide in Burnsville.
Hopkins Police Chief Brent Johnson said a parent dropping their child off at the residence on the 200 block of Tyler Avenue North reported a stabbing just after 9 a.m.
Inside, police found a 41-year-old man dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, a 41-year-old woman dead from apparent stab wounds and a 7-year-old girl also dead from stab wounds. Chief Johnson said the three were all part of the same family.
Investigators later linked the tragedy to another homicide in Burnsville. In that incident, the victim, a 78-year-old woman, is believed to be “a close family relative” of the suspect in the Hopkins tragedy, police say.
Police discuss link between Hopkins murder-suicide and Burnsville homicide.Details of Hopkins Incident
In addition to the three people found dead, police found six children inside the Hopkins daycare, all described as “very young” and physically unharmed. They are all back with their families, Johnson said.
Johnson said the adults found dead are likely the owners of the daycare, and preliminary evidence indicates the deceased man was the “perpetrator.”
At this time, police say there isn’t any ongoing threat to the community, but the investigation remains active. Investigators are still working to determine the man’s motive.
“There’s no worse scenario than this,” Johnson said. “You drop your children off somewhere you think is safe and you get that phone call.”
Reaction
“This is a tight-knit community,” Hopkins Mayor Patrick Hanlon said. “We don’t have strangers in Hopkins, we all know each other.”
Hanlon added, “This city has shed a lot of tears today over this incident, over this immense loss. It’s tough to put into words what this loss is for our community.”
This morning, a police officer came to her door asking if she heard anything at the home and couldn’t believe it.
“Oh my God, those poor kids. It’s just trauma, it’s pure… I just can’t imagine,” said Jean Healey, who also knew the couple who ran the daycare.
A couple also told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS they were just considering sending their kids to the daycare.
“It’s just a shocker of hearing what happened,” they said.
The chief said this appeared to be an isolated incident and there was no further threat to the public.
“It’s just shocking,” Healey added. “She seemed very friendly. He seemed fine. I just can’t believe that could happen in my neighborhood.”
Investigators were still working to determine the nature of the injuries and what types of weapons were involved.
Burnsville reaction and childcare records
Police investigators were still working Wednesday evening looking for clues into the stabbing death of the 78-year-old woman in Burnsville.
“It sounds so crazy because It’s a quiet neighborhood, period,” says Kelli Heitkamp, who lives across the street and saw police arriving around 12:30 p.m.
Neighbors who didn’t appear on camera say the 78-year-old and suspect would take walks together in the area, and that he had lived at her house for a while.
“I don’t know. Go home and hug your family at night. I’m going to call my daughter when I go back in. I’m going to call my daughter when I get back in. I’m going to FaceTime her and my grandbabies,” Heitkamp said.
Police have not shared a timeline between the two crime scenes but say they’ve had no reports of previous issues at the daycare.
State records show that Brown Bear Childcare has an active license to care for 10 kids, valid through the end of the year, with no violations.
Heitkamp says her own daughter isn’t using daycare for the grandchildren, but she says she personally had no problems.
“My daughter was in home daycare until she was in grade school and she went to an after-school program. But other than that, she was,” Heitkamp said. “I didn’t worry about her being at daycare.”
Hanlon says other daycares in the area have stepped up and are offering services for the six children starting Thursday.
Authorities say the identities of the victims likely won’t be released for at least several days.
During his 2027 budget address on Wednesday morning, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey offered his thoughts and prayers to those involved, saying further that Minneapolis will help Hopkins in anyway possible.
Police discuss Hopkins murder-suicide at in-home daycare.
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