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A mentally unstable gunman confessed on Facebook to murdering four relatives at their Minnesota home before turning the gun on himself Wednesday, police said.
Brandon Taylor Cole-Skogstad, 29, shot his aunt, uncle, two young cousins and their dog while the family slept Tuesday night, police said. He later killed himself with the murder weapon when cops arrived at the house the next afternoon, according to officials.
A SWAT team discovered the carnage when they entered the house after the final gunshot was heard, cops revealed.
The gruesome scene was uncovered after police in nearby Hermantown had been asked to conduct a welfare check on Cole-Skogstad. Relatives claimed he was in crisis and planned to kill family members, authorities said.
Hermantown police then asked their counterparts in Duluth to check on the home where the family lived — but they didn’t arrive in time, according to police.
Cole-Skogstad had confessed to the mass murder on Facebook before cops arrived, writing he made an “absolutely horrid choice,” Duluth Police Chief Mike Tusken said.
The killer wrote he “suffered many years of mental illness” but “almost never sought out help because I felt I never deserved it,” Tusken confirmed.
The victims were Riana Lou Barry, 44; Sean Christopher Barry, 47; Shiway Elizabeth Barry, 12; and Sadie Lucille Barry, 9, the chief said.
“It is a terribly traumatic event. … We all have really heavy hearts,” Tusken said, adding that it was the worst homicide case he’d seen in his 30-year career.
With AP wires
Source: NYPOST
