Police: Man Killed Four Relatives Before Turning the Gun on Himself

(KNSI) — Police say a Duluth man killed four family members while they slept before turning the gun on himself.

Chief Mile Tusken says 29-year-old Brandon Taylor Cole-Skogstad confessed to the killings on his Facebook page, explaining he had mental health issues that he didn’t get help for “because I felt I never deserved it.” According to Tusken, the post and Facebook page were verified and authenticated through an immediate family member.

The victims were his aunt, 44-year-old Riana Lou Barry, uncle, 47-year-old Sean Christopher Barry, and two cousins he described as “beyond angelic” in the post, 12-year-old Shiway Elizabeth Barry and nine-year-old Sadie Lucille Barry.

Cole Skogstad explained he made the “absolutely horrid choice” to kill his family and ended the post by saying he can’t fathom how he came to the 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. If God can truly forgive me, weather (sic) or not I ask for it. Weather (sic) 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.”

The post was available Thursday afternoon, but his page has been removed from Facebook.

Police were called to a house in Hermantown Wednesday morning for a welfare check and learned Cole Skogstad had access to weapons. That led them to contact the Duluth Police Department to check on the house in the East Hillside neighborhood. A press release says when officers approached the home early Wednesday morning and heard “what they believed to be a single gunshot,” and made a tactical retreat from the house and called in additional resources.

Police used drones and robots to search the house, but they couldn’t secure the scene, so officers had to make entry and made the tragic discovery. Investigators say they believe the victims were shot while they slept because they were all found in their beds. The family dog was also killed.

Both Police Departments from Hermantown and Duluth searched 911 call history to determine if any previous calls indicated a pattern of behavior or concerns regarding the suspect. There were no calls to show any prior concerns.

In the release, Tusken said, “The entire Duluth Police Department would like to offer our heartfelt condolences to the Barry family, to those who knew them, and the East Hillside neighborhood. Incidents like these shake our sense of safety as a community and the region as a whole. In my 30 years of policing, I have never seen anything like this. Sometimes people forget that the officers and investigators responding to the scene have families too. This is devastating for them to respond to, to see, and to process afterwards. I cannot thank the members of our team enough for their service, and for their care for this community.”

The DPD offers peer support, crisis incident stress debriefing, mental health counseling, an employee assistance program, and chaplain services.

If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Veterans can call that same number and press 1. Chat support is also available by clicking here.

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