The suspected Hopkins daycare murder-suicide that left three members of one family dead on Wednesday morning has shaken a Minnesota city that says it is not used to this kind of loss. Investigators have now connected the deaths to a separate killing discovered the same day in Burnsville.

The call came in just after 9 a.m. from a parent who had arrived at a home on the 200 block of Tyler Avenue North to drop off a child. Instead of a routine morning handoff, the parent reported a stabbing.

What Officers Discovered Inside

Hopkins Police Chief Brent Johnson said officers entering the residence found three people dead.

A 41-year-old man had died from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A 41-year-old woman had died from apparent stab wounds. A 7-year-old girl had also died from stab wounds.

All three, Johnson said, belonged to the same family. Preliminary evidence points to the man as the person responsible, though the investigation remains open and formal conclusions have not been issued.

The two adults are believed to have been the owners of the in-home daycare operating out of the property.

Six Children Found Unharmed

Six other children were inside the house when police arrived. Every one of them was physically unharmed and has since been returned to their families.

Johnson described the children as very young. That detail has weighed heavily on officials speaking publicly about the case, because it raises questions no investigator can answer immediately about what those children may have heard or seen.

Speaking to reporters, the chief captured the fear at the center of the story in plain terms. He said there is no worse situation than dropping your child somewhere you believe is safe and then receiving that phone call.

A Second Death in Burnsville

Later the same day, investigators tied the Hopkins scene to a separate homicide in Burnsville, a suburb south of the Twin Cities.

In that case the victim was a 78-year-old woman. Police believe she was a close family relative of the man identified as the suspect in Hopkins.

Two police departments in two different communities are now working the same case, coordinating to establish the order of events and the movements that connected the two addresses. Officials have not publicly stated which death occurred first.

Names of the deceased have not been released while relatives are notified.

No Broader Threat, but an Open Investigation

Police have been direct on one point: there is no ongoing danger to the wider community. Everything gathered so far indicates a contained situation involving one family rather than a threat to the public.

That said, the investigation is very much active. The central unanswered question is why.

Johnson said investigators are still working to determine the man’s motive. In cases like this, that process typically involves reviewing communications, financial records, medical history, and interviews with people who knew the family. It rarely produces quick answers, and sometimes produces none that satisfy.

A City Without Strangers

Hopkins sits just west of Minneapolis and has a population of roughly 20,000. Mayor Patrick Hanlon described it as a tight-knit place, saying there are no strangers in Hopkins and that residents generally know one another.

He said the city had shed a great many tears over the loss and that it was difficult to find language adequate to what the community was feeling.

Neighbors described the disbelief of the morning, including officers going door to door asking whether anyone had heard anything unusual. For people living a short walk away, the news simply did not fit the street they knew.

That closeness cuts both ways. In a small city, grief spreads fast because connections overlap. The families whose children were inside the home know each other. Their children likely play together. Parents who used the daycare, or considered using it, are now processing something they will carry for a long time.

Why It Unsettles Parents Everywhere

In-home daycares occupy a particular place in family life. Many parents choose them precisely because they feel warmer and less institutional than large centers, with fewer children and a more personal relationship with the provider.

That model depends entirely on trust in a household. When a case like this surfaces, that trust wobbles far beyond the city where it happened.

It is worth holding two things at once. Events of this kind are extraordinarily rare, and the overwhelming majority of home childcare providers run safe, loving environments. At the same time, the rarity offers little comfort to the people directly touched by this particular morning.

Practical Realities for the Families Involved

Parents whose children were present face immediate and difficult decisions, including how to talk to a toddler or preschooler about a disrupted, frightening morning without introducing details a young child cannot process.

Child development specialists generally advise keeping explanations simple and age-appropriate, following the child’s lead rather than volunteering information, restoring familiar routines quickly, and involving a professional if sleep, behavior, or mood changes persist.

Local support services typically mobilize in situations like this, and school districts and county agencies often coordinate counseling access for affected families.

What Comes Next

Two investigations are proceeding in parallel. Police in Hopkins and Burnsville will continue building a timeline, and formal determinations of cause and manner of death will come from the medical examiner.

Identities are expected to be released once notifications are complete. Any conclusion about motive, if one is reached at all, will likely take considerably longer.

For now, a community that says it has no strangers is grieving a family it knew, four lives ended in a single day, and a set of questions that may never be fully answered.

This story involves suicide and violence within a family, which can be hard to sit with. If reading it brought up something personal for you, I’m glad to help you find the right support.