SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Shakopee Police tell KARE 11 that the suspect in a double murder in Shakopee has killed himself in southeastern Minnesota.
The suspect, the son of the male victim, committed suicide in Waseca Tuesday.
A 68-year-old man and his 67-year-old fiancee were found dead in the basement of his home on the 1100 block of Dakota Street early Tuesday by officers on a welfare check. The two had been beaten to death, suffering what are being called severe blunt force injuries. The son of the female victim identified the couple to KARE 11 as Renee Ahrens and Terry Weimer.
Shakopee Police Chief Jeff Tate says the murder scene was difficult for his officers to witness.
"Brutal is probably a good word to describe the scene our officers found," Tate shared. "You can imagine the type of anger and rage that it takes, what their mindset needs to be to do something like that."
Tate says investigators soon identified Weimer's son, named by family members as 40-year-old Adam Weimer, as their only suspect in the murders. They also found that Ahrens' 2009 Honda Accord was missing, and put out a statewide alert. The vehicle was located hours later unoccupied in Waseca. When authorities went to Adam Weimer's Waseca residence, he barricaded himself inside with a firearm.
SWAT negotiators began a dialog with Weimer, trying to talk him into surrendering. Communications broke down, and around noon Weimer was found inside the home dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Adam Weimer has an extensive criminal record, including convictions for assault, malicious punishment, theft, DWIs, and fleeing a police officer.
Chief Tate worries that, with the suicide, they may never learn the motive for the double-homicide.