Dad Kills Wife and 7-Year-Old Daughter at Home Daycare as Children Gather Inside

A Minnesota man killed his wife and their 7-year-old daughter inside the family’s home daycare before taking his own life, police said, as several young children were gathered at the house.

Authorities also believe the 41-year-old man killed a 78-year-old female relative at another home before the deadly attack in Hopkins, a suburb of Minneapolis.

Police said the man stabbed his wife and daughter at Brown Bear Childcare, the in-home daycare the couple operated, before fatally shooting himself.

Six other children were inside the daycare at the time, but none were physically injured.

Police were alerted after another parent arrived to drop off a child and witnessed the attack taking place in the basement, Hopkins Police Chief Brent Johnson said.

“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 during a news conference.

He added that the scene was especially disturbing because of the young children who were present.

“This is a tragic day and horrific scene for little children to witness, if they did witness this,” Johnson said.

More than three hours later, police in Burnsville, about 20 miles away, were called to another home and found a 78-year-old woman who had been fatally stabbed.

Burnsville Police Chief Matt Smith said investigators believe the two incidents are connected.

Authorities said the man had been staying at the home of the woman, who was described as a close family relative.

Police have not released the names of those involved.

Investigators are still trying to determine exactly when each killing occurred and what may have triggered the violence.

Johnson said there was no known history of police calls to the Hopkins home and no clear motive had been identified.

A neighbor, Amanda Marx, said she realized something was terribly wrong when she saw officers attempting to force their way into the house.

She later watched police move behind the property before returning and putting up crime scene tape.

Several young children were eventually brought out of the home, including one who was carried by an officer.

The house itself was familiar to neighborhood families because of a colorful mural painted across the garage door showing a tree-lined lake and a moose.

Photos shared by the daycare online showed children playing with toys inside the home and in the backyard, surrounded by colorful artwork and decorations.

Marx said she and her own 7-year-old son had always called it the “garage house” because of the mural.

Now, she said, she is struggling with how to explain the horrifying scene to her child.

“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.

State records show Brown Bear Childcare had been licensed since 2019 and was approved to care for as many as 10 children.

The daycare had been found in compliance during inspections in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Johnson said killings like this are extremely rare in Hopkins and acknowledged that even veteran officers were deeply affected by what they encountered.

“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,” he said.

The investigation remains ongoing as authorities work to establish a complete timeline and determine what led to the violence.