Law enforcement respond to a call at a home daycare, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026, in Hopkins, Minn. (AP Photo/Carly Danek)
A Minnesota man killed his wife and their 7-year-old daughter as young children gathered at a daycare the couple owned, police said Wednesday (August 12). He also allegedly killed another relative before the Brown Bear Childcare daycare attack, before taking his own life.
Hopkins Police said the 41-year-old man fatally shot himself after stabbing his wife and child at their in-home daycare in Hopkins, a suburb of Minneapolis.Some time prior to the daycare attack, authorities believe he also killed a 78-year-old relative at her home.
All six other children who were at Brown Bear Childcare were not physically harmed, authorities said. Hopkins Police Chief Brent Johnson said that another parent called police after witnessing the attack in the home’s basement while dropping off a child.
“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.
Records show the state has licensed the daycare since 2019. It has a capacity of 10 children. It passed compliance requirements during visits in 2023, 2024 and 2025. 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.
“This is a tragic day and horrific scene for little children to witness, if they did witness this,” Johnson later added.
Johnson said killings are a “rarity” in Hopkins. He added 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.
More than three hours after the killings, Burnsville Chief Matt Smith said officers were called to a home in his community, 20 miles from Hopkins. Officers found a woman who had been fatally stabbed. He said investigators believe the two tragedies are linked, and that the man had been living at the home of the “close family relative.”
Minnesota police haven’t released any names. Hopkins Police Chief Brent Johnson said no clear motive had been determined yet and there was no history of police calls to the Hopkins address. Additionally, Johnson said it will take time for authorities to determine the timeline between the killings in Hopkins and Burnsville.
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 house 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. Also, she was unaware they were running Brown Bear Childcare out of the home. 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.
Associated Press writers Mark Vancleave, R.J. Rico and Ed White contributed to this report via AP Newsroom.
