Earlier this week, police say a mentally unstable gunman confessed on Facebook to murdering four family members before killing himself.
Late Tuesday night, Brandon Taylor Cole-Skogstad, 29, allegedly shot his aunt, uncle, two young cousins, and dog. He then shot himself with the murder weapon the next day when the police arrived.
According to officials, a SWAT team entered the home after the final gunshot went off where they discovered the massacre.
Police in nearby Hermantown uncovered the scene when they conducted a welfare check on Cole-Skogstad after relatives claimed he was in crisis and planned to kill family members.
At the time, Duluth police were asked to check on the family’s residence, but they failed to arrive in time.
Duluth Police Chief Mike Tusken said Cole-Skogstad admitted to the mass murder on Facebook before authorities arrived, saying he made an “absolutely horrid choice.”
Tusken confirmed that the killer wrote on Facebook that he “suffered many years of mental illness” but “rarely sought out help because I felt I never deserved it.”
According to reports, the victims were Riana Lou Barry, 44; Sean Christopher Barry, 47; Shiway Elizabeth Barry, 12; and Sadie Lucille Barry, 9.
Tusken said, “It is a terribly traumatic event. … We all have really heavy hearts,” adding that it was the worst homicide case he’d seen in his 30-year career.
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