SAA event in United States of America on Thu 7th November 2024

Minnesota man kills wife, ex-partner and two sons before killing himself

Police say Anthony Nephew, 46, shot wife and son and ex-partner and their son dead in Duluth on Thursday
Guardian staff and agencies
Fri 8 Nov 2024 23.07 CET

A Minnesota man shot and killed his wife and son, and his ex-partner and their son, before killing himself, authorities said on Friday.

Duluth police have not determined a motive, but the police chief, Mike Ceynowa, said at a news conference that the shooter, named as 46-year-old Anthony Nephew, had a “pattern of mental health issues”.

The killings that unfolded on Thursday were consistent with the type of crime that, since the 1980s, has been referred to as a “family annihilation”. Thursday’s killings were the 25th mass murder in the US so far this year, according to the non-partisan Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass murder as one in which four or more victims are killed.

Officers were first called to a home just after 2pm on Thursday, police said. They found Erin Abramson, 47, and Jacob Nephew, 15, dead from apparent gunshot wounds. Abramson and Anthony Nephew were previously involved in a relationship, Ceynowa said.

Later on Thursday, police identified Anthony Nephew as the suspect and surrounded his home. When they entered, officers found the bodies of him, his 45-year-old wife Kathryn and their seven-year-old son Oliver.

Police said Anthony Nephew apparently shot himself.

Duluth, a city of nearly 90,000 residents, is roughly 135 miles (217km) north of Minneapolis.

There is no centralized database for this kind of crime that could provide insights into characteristics or prevalence. But the overwhelming majority of such cases involve a male killer armed with a gun who kills himself after murdering multiple close family members.

The steady reccurrence of mass murders in the US have prompted many in the country to call for more substantial federal gun control. But Congress has been unable or unwilling to implement such measures.