A Hopkins daycare was the final scene of a tragedy that left four people dead on Wednesday morning. Hopkins police said a man killed his wife, their 7-year-old daughter and a 78-year-old woman before killing himself.
The dead included the child and the older woman, who was found in Burnsville. Investigators have not found a clear motive, and the man did not leave a suicide note.
Katie Kramer on hidden abuse
Katie Kramer, co-executive director of Violence Free Minnesota, said domestic violence can stay out of view. “Domestic violence isn’t always visible, right. It isn’t always, you know, the sort of image of a black eye that people go to” she said in a report by Mike Manzoni.
She said fear can shape silence. “If they know that calling – involving law enforcement could put them or their family at risk, that might be a safety choice for them to not report that abuse....” Kramer said. She also described murder-suicides as “the ultimate act of power and control.”
Hopkins, Burnsville records
Police said the man had been living with the 78-year-old woman in Burnsville. Court records in Hennepin County showed his name appeared only twice, and both cases involved minor issues like fishing and operating a snowmobile without a permit.
Records for his wife’s in-home daycare did not show any problems. A search warrant also showed she had planned to close the daycare soon because of relationship issues with her husband, even though there was no record of previous domestic violence issues.
Corin Hoggard reports from the Hopkins daycare scene at Brown Bear Daycare.
Violence Free Minnesota counts
Violence Free Minnesota has tracked domestic violence-related murder-suicides since the late 1980s. Over the last four decades, the group counted 231 murder-suicides that left 267 people dead, and it said most of the suspects were men who used guns.
In this case, police have not tied the killings to a stated trigger. For readers in a similar situation, the practical step is the same one Kramer pointed to: safety can come before reporting, especially when fear of retaliation shapes what a victim chooses to do.
