Suspect in Minnesota murder-suicide calls pre-teen victims ‘angelic’ in chilling Facebook confession
The man suspected of killing four family members, including his pre-teen cousins, inside their Minnesota home reportedly confessed in a now-deleted Facebook post before carrying out the brutal massacre and then taking his own life.
A loved one became concerned when they saw the chilling social media post on the profile of 29-year-old Brandon Taylor Cole-Skogstad, so they phoned authorities to request a welfare check. Officers responded to his home in Hermantown on Wednesday and then contacted law enforcement in nearby Duluth, where Cole-Skogstad’s aunt and uncle lived.
As officers closed in on the second residence, they heard a single gunshot ring out, Duluth Police Department chief Mike Tusken said at a press conference Thursday. Inside, they discovered five bodies, including that of Cole-Skogstad, as well as a deceased dog.
After a preliminary investigation, authorities believe the incident to be a murder suicide and that the victims were fatally shot as they slept. They were identified as Riana Lou Barry, 44; Sean Christopher Barry, 47; Shiway Elizabeth Barry, 12; and Sadie Lucille Barry, 9.
In a Facebook post shared ahead of the deadly tragedy, Cole-Skogstad wrote about the years he’d spent suffering from mental illness and how he wished he made better choices in recent years. A family member confirmed to Fox 21 that the post appeared on his page before getting deleted a short time later.
“I have made the absolutely horrid choice in not only taking my life, but the lives of my aunt, Riana Lou Barry, my uncle Sean Barry, and my two sweet, beyond angelic cousins Sadie Lucille Barry and Shiway Elizabeth Barry,” he wrote.
Cole-Skogstad concluded the social media missive by apologizing and bidding farewell to those who knew him.
“I cannot fathom how I came to this decision, but I do know this. If there is a God sitting in heaven, I wish so much that he grant my family the most peaceful heavenly afterlife possible,” he continued.
“If God can truly forgive me, weather or not I ask for it. Weather or not I feel I am worthy, I only ask to tell them all sorry. I truly hope I can learn to accept feelings of love from those that gave it. I love you all and please know I knew you all loved me. I tried my best to fight it. Good bye.”
Tusken said officials have not uncovered any evidence to suggest a pattern of concerning behavior for Cole-Skogstad.
“Incidents like these shake our sense of safety as a community and the region as a whole,” Chief Mike Tusken said. “In my 30 years of policing, I have never seen anything like this.”
An investigation into the suspected murder-suicide continued on Friday.
