HINCKLEY, Minn. (TCN) — A 31-year-old man is in custody on suspicion of fatally shooting his father at a cabin amid a dispute.
According to the Pine County Sheriff’s Office, on Nov. 15, deputies responded to a report of a shooting on Barn Springs Road, where they found a male victim, identified by KMSP-TV as Kirk Edward Hazlett II, deceased. Witnesses reportedly saw the incident and then fled to safety.
In a statement posted by Crime Watch Minneapolis, deputies said one of the witnesses recounted that he went to the cabin for a hunting trip with another individual and the victim. The two witnesses reportedly ate dinner while Hazlett II sat on the couch with a drink. One of the witnesses allegedly received a notification on his phone showing someone walking down the driveway with a gun on the security camera.
According to the statement, the witness went to a bedroom to retrieve a gun, but the victim’s son, Kirk Hazlett III, allegedly “busted through” the door and shot his father several times in the torso.
One of the witnesses reportedly said Hazlett III didn’t say anything when he “entered with a mission” to kill his father. The two witnesses believed Hazlett III was going to kill them, and they begged him to let them go. Hazlett III allegedly forced the two witnesses to sit on the couch before he walked over to his father and shot him in the head “execution style.”
An autopsy determined the victim died of multiple gunshot wounds, including one bullet that entered his head through the left ear and exited at the right forehead.
According to the statement, Hazlett III allowed the two witnesses to leave if they gave him their cellphones. The two witnesses reportedly left and drove to a neighbor’s residence to call for help.
Deputies went to Hazlett III’s home in Cambridge and spoke with his girlfriend. She reportedly said her boyfriend borrowed her vehicle to drive to the family cabin owned by the victim and the victim’s two brothers. Authorities said the girlfriend claimed Hazlett III “mentioned a new security camera at the cabin that he did not like.” She also reportedly said her boyfriend has “hunted at the cabin in previous years, but he did not get a deer tag this year.” The girlfriend told deputies Hazlett III and his family “don’t see eye to eye.”
Authorities apprehended Hazlett III and booked him into the Pine County Jail. He faces five felony counts, including charges of second-degree murder, kidnapping, and first-degree burglary.
According to the statement, law enforcement officials had previously responded to the cabin in October for a disturbance between Hazlett III and his father after the victim claimed his son had been consuming alcohol and threatened him.
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