Four people died from gunshot wounds in a Grand Meadow house fire on Sunday, according to the Mower County Sheriff’s Office.
Emergency responders found the bodies of a man and three boys after bringing the blaze under control on First Street Northeast, MPR News reported. Mower County Sheriff Steve Sandvik identified the man as 38-year-old Levi David Christenson. The boys were identified as his 14-year-old twin sons, Oliver James Christenson and Felix Richard Christenson, and his 7-year-old son, Calvin Jones Christenson.
Four people found dead after a Sunday house fire in Grand Meadow, Minnesota, were shot. The Mower County Sheriff's Office ruled it a murder-suicide: Levi Christenson, 38, killed his three sons, ages 14, 14 and 7, then himself. The ruling, issued Wednesday afternoon under Sheriff… pic.twitter.com/ZiN0hT1p2x
Investigators determined the deaths of the three boys were homicides caused by gunshot wounds, according to a press release from the sheriff’s office. Officials said that Levi Christenson died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The small southern Minnesota town of just over 1,000 residents, located about 20 miles south of Rochester, has been deeply shaken by the tragedy. A prayer vigil was scheduled for Wednesday evening at St. Finbarr Catholic Church.
The Minnesota State Fire Marshal and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are assisting local authorities with the investigation. Further forensic analysis remains pending.
“We are confident there is no danger to the community following this incident but need to complete the investigative process before definitive answers can be provided to many of the questions that remain unanswered,” Sheriff Sandvik wrote in Wednesday’s press release.
Authorities said that they will not provide further public updates because the inquiry is complex.
An online fundraiser launched to support the boys’ mother, who was divorced from Christenson, had raised nearly $58,000 as of Wednesday afternoon. The organizer wrote that “there are simply no words that could ever begin to describe the pain she is facing,” adding that the boys “were her pride and joy, her happiness, and the center of her universe,” CBS News reported.
“The nature of this tragic and inconceivable tragedy occurring in the close-knit small community has touched all parts of the community,” Sandvik added, asking that the privacy of all involved be respected during the recovery process.
Sheriff reveals Grand Meadow family's deaths were murder-suicide https://t.co/t6Rl8HvlmA
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