Police: Driver admitted to intentionally killing teen at North Dakota street after political dispute

[WarGamer]

Keep a cool head, everyone... this doesn't help.

Prosecutors allege moments before he was killed, 18-year-old Cayler Ellingson called his mom to come rescue him because 41-year-old Shannon Brandt was chasing him in the city of McHenry, where the street dance had just wrapped up.

By the time she could get there, her son was dead.

Court papers show Brandt called 911 around 2:30 a.m. Sunday and told the 911 dispatcher that he just hit Ellingson, claiming the teen was part of a Republican extremist group and was calling people to come get Brandt after a political argument.

https://www.grandforksherald.com/news/north-dakota/police-driver-admitted-to-intentionally-killing-teen-at-north-dakota-street-dance-after-political-dispute

[Walleye]

1. How can we ever stop this political violence?!

[WarGamer]

2. good question...

[Eugene]

3. Little evidence of political argument before teen's death

Little evidence of political argument before teen’s death (Associated Press)

North Dakota Highway Patrol Capt. Bryan Niewind said Friday that authorities have talked to dozens of witnesses and plan to talk to more as they try to get a better picture of exactly what happened before the crash.

“I can’t get into details about what the witnesses are describing to us. But what I can tell you is that this is not political in nature at all,” he said, adding: “There is no evidence to support Brandt’s claim on the 911 call that Mr. Ellingson was a Republican extremist. There is no evidence to support that all through our continued investigation.”

https://apnews.com/article/bismarck-north-dakota-c6a2c46243e6655dd71a47b7df55087e

[WarGamer]

4. Didn't the killer call him an "Extreme Republican" on the 9-11 call?

Do they have recordings of the 911 call?

[Kingofalldems]

6. Oh.

[harumph]

5. well, that's a strange case.

[Hortensis]

7. 'the man was "nuts his whole life" and "should have been in a [mental health] institute.'

Fox News "Shannon Brandt: What we know about the North Dakota man who mowed down Cayler Ellingson with SUV" https://www.foxnews.com/us/shannon-brandt-what-know-north-dakota-man-mowed-down-cayler-ellingson-suv

... ]From Glenfield, North Dakota, Brandt's neighbors say that he had mental health conditions, with one person who wanted to remain anonymous telling Fox News Digital that the man was "nuts his whole life" and "should have been in a [mental health] institute."

Four of Brandt's neighbors who spoke with Fox News Digital under the condition of anonymity said that they don't believe the incident was motivated by politics, but rather had something to do with mental health problems.

How dreadfully, dreadfully sad.

[WarGamer]

8. But why did the killer tell 911 the victim was an "extreme Republican"?

Doesn't that make it... by definition... political?

Did the killer think that made it "ok"??

Oh I think the guy is bat shit crazy... but to steer it away from being political is disingenuous listening to the guys own words.

[NutmegYankee]

9. But was it really politics or a delusional mind?

[WarGamer]

10. I don't know... I'm not a psychologist interviewing the guy

I'm just going by the facts of the case. In this case... his own words.

[NutmegYankee]

13. If someone is not of rational mind, they can believe some pretty odd and contradictory things

The fact that everyone is reporting he was a few fries short of a happy meal leads me to be cautious here.

[Hortensis]

12. As you put it so much more succinctly. :)

[Hortensis]

11. If the guy's crazy? Maybe paranoia caused him to think he

was being hunted down. And it doesn't indicate he's "Democrat" either. He may not even have a dependably rational understanding of what these words mean to most people.

They suggest to me that he's exposed to irresponsible political rhetoric, but that's not the same thing.

[W_HAMILTON]

14. Maybe he is an extremist Republican...

...who buys into the conspiratorial bullshit that all those on the left are criminals and the reason they aren't all locked up is because of the deep state and the Illuminati and blah blah so he claimed that he was killing an """extremist Republican""" because his QAnon dumbass legitimately thinks that it's okay to kill Republicans and get away with it because that's what his conservative conspiratorial propaganda has been telling him?

And he is a drunken murderer that -- based on the article posted elsewhere in this thread -- also had a history of mental health problems. The reason it is being "steer away" from being political is because there apparently has been no evidence that has backed up what the drunken murder with mental health problems claimed. Is that surprising to you?