A man fatally stabbed his wife and their 7-year-old daughter inside a Minnesota daycare Wednesday morning before killing himself, according to a search warrant released Thursday.
Authorities identified the man as Nathan Brown, 41. The Hennepin County search warrant states he attacked his wife, 41-year-old Kristen Brown, and their daughter, Evie Brown, inside the daycare that Kristen Brown operated out of the family's basement in Hopkins, a suburb of Minneapolis. Nathan Brown then fatally shot himself in an upstairs closet, according to Hopkins police.
Six other children were present in the daycare at the time of the attack but were not physically harmed, authorities confirmed.
Police records indicate that a father dropping off his children at the daycare heard screams from the basement. The witness entered the home and initially believed Nathan Brown was performing CPR, but then realized an attack was underway. The father fled the home with his own children and two others, then called 911.
Investigators believe Nathan Brown also killed a 78-year-old relative at her Burnsville home, approximately 20 miles from Hopkins, earlier on Wednesday. Nathan Brown had been living with the relative, according to investigators, who have not yet released her identity or confirmed her relationship to Brown.
A parent who witnessed the daycare attack told investigators that Kristen Brown had recently sent parents a letter stating the daycare would soon be closing, citing "relationship issues with Nathan," the warrant stated.
There is no history of police calls to the Hopkins address, and authorities have not yet released information regarding a potential motive for the killings.
Kristen Brown had been licensed by the state since 2019. Brown Bear Childcare, as the daycare was known, had a capacity of 10 children and was found to be in compliance during state visits in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Kristen Brown opened the daycare a few months after giving birth to Evie. In a 2019 post on the daycare's Facebook page, she expressed a hope to help her daughter and other children "blossom into happy, intelligent, caring individuals." According to the page, she held a bachelor's degree in elementary education foundations from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and was certified in vision therapy. Her programming for the children included music and cooking classes, and field trips to a science museum and an orchard.