A Minnesota man was on “a mission” when he executed his father in front of fellow relatives after he broke into the older man’s rural hunting cabin and shot him multiple times before fleeing.
Kirk Edward Hazlett III allegedly fired nine shots at his father, 64-year-old Kirk Edward Hazlett II, including once in the head, leaving him to die in a pool of blood on his living room floor in Pine County on Nov. 15, according to police records obtained by North Pine County News.
The suspected gunman was spotted on a trail camera with a handgun walking towards the family’s hunting cabin at around 8:40 p.m., with the victim’s brother being alerted by the commotion and running to a bedroom to grab a gun.
Hazlett III entered the cabin through a side door and shot his father at least three times, according to the criminal complaint viewed by the outlet.
By the time the gunman’s uncle returned, he saw his brother lying on the ground near a couch.
“(He was) still alive and breathing a little bit.”
Another relative recalled the suspected gunman not saying anything when he entered and immediately fired the weapon.
“He entered with a mission…he entered to kill him,” the unidentified relative said, according to the report.
Hazlett III and his father had not been getting along “for some time” as the alleged killer was “not in good relations with their family,” the report added.
Now face-to-face with two other relatives, Hazlett III reportedly ordered them to sit on the couch, as the two pleaded for their lives.
Start and end your day informed with our newsletters
Morning Report and Evening Update: Your source for today’s top stories
Thanks for signing up!
Hazlett III turned and shot his father in the head “execution style” to “make sure he was dead,” the Kansas City Star reported.
Hazlett III ordered his two relatives to hand their phones over before letting them go from the cabin.
The now-free relatives raced over to the neighbor’s house where the police were called.
By the time first responders arrived to the wooded area on Barns Spring Road in Hinkley, Hazlett III had fled the area, as his father was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Pine County Sheriff.
Instead of going into hiding, Hazlett III went back to his Cambridge home about eight miles from the cabin where he called the Isanti County Sheriff’s Office over a concern with his girlfriend.
Hazlett III was arrested at his home and charged with second-degree murder, burglary and kidnapping.
He is being held at Pine County Sheriff’s Office on a $3 million, according to jail records, viewed by The Post.
In October, police were called to the cabin because of a disturbance between Hazlett III and his father.
The irate son had reportedly been drinking and threatening his father, North Pine County News reported.
Hazlett II told police that his son wasn’t welcomed at the cabin and was trespassed from the property.
Hazlett III’s girlfriend said her boyfriend and family “didn’t see eye to eye” and that he was frustrated about a new security camera his family set up near the cabin and that he hadn’t “tagged” a deer this year, the report claimed.
