Minneapolis man kills 3 people, including 2 kids, before turning gun on himself in murder-suicide due to 'domestic dispute'
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: A hostage situation quickly turned into a murder-suicide on Sunday, December 1, in a Minneapolis neighborhood, which left four dead.
The incident began around 10 am when two boys, described by authorities as "not yet teenagers" were playing outside in the snow. The suspect pulled up in a car behind the pair and shot them both in what is believed to be part of a domestic dispute.
According to the Star Tribune, the children were aged eight and 11. Officers responded to the scene after receiving reports of gunshots fired and found the boys with gunshot wounds.
Acting swiftly in the active crime scene, the officers retrieved the boys from the yard and transported them to their squad car where they succumbed to their severe injuries.
The suspect had run into a nearby home and continuous sounds of gunfire could be heard from the property. Police spokesman John Elder said that after the situation was classified as a "hostage situation", SWAT personnel and negotiators were dispatched to the scene.
Just minutes after the police started hearing guns being fired inside the property, a police officer at the scene reportedly told emergency dispatchers, that "dad showed up, shot the kids and went in the house."
Authorities surrounded the house and kept trying to contact the suspect. They even went as far as to using a robot equipped with a camera to get visuals inside the home so as to not risk the safety of officers.
At the time, officers were working under the assumption that there were other individuals present inside the house where the suspect had locked himself in.
As the SWAT team waited to deescalate the situation that led to arrests without putting the lives of potential hostages in danger, other officers went door-to-door trying to get neighbors in the area to safety.
Many of the residents up to eight homes on both sides of the street were evacuated and transported on buses far away from the confrontational scene.
The situation ended with authorities removing the body of a woman mid-afternoon and a dead man with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head from the house. "This is about more than the tragedy of two children dying. This is about the safety of a community," Elder said.