Cayler Ellingson, 18, was struck with a fatal blow by a car within McHenry, North Dakota.
It's an awful tale, but the initial information that's being revealed about the case makes it more concerning: It was not an accident.
Ellingson was at a dance when he rang his mother to come to his rescue, as Ellingson claimed he was pursued by 41-year-old Shannon Brandt. However, by the time she arrived, Cayler was dead. The information Brandt said about the murder was shocking.
“He was the one who called 911 to report the crash,” said North Dakota Highway Patrol Capt. Bryan Niewind.
Court papers reveal that Brandt dialed 911 around 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning and informed the dispatcher that he was just a few feet away from Ellingson with a baseball bat, and that the teenager was an affiliate of an Republican extremist group. The group was urging people to take Brandt after a political dispute.
Ellingson's mother told police that her son called her right before the accident, asking whether she had any contact with Brandt. She isn't convinced that her son was aware of him.
“We are still trying to determine what, exactly, transpired at the time of crash and prior to that as well,” Niewind explained.
Police believe Brandt was intoxicated when he struck and killed Ellingson by driving his vehicle through an alleyway.
The court papers described it as a “politically motivated attack.”
Brandt was arrested for vehicular homicide, and for being a fugitive from the scene of the fatal accident. He could face at least 10 years in jail for this crime, as he had an earlier DUI conviction-the maximum is 20 years. However, the police indicated they were investigating the case as still ongoing and that more serious charges could be considered.
Brandt protested against setting bail at $50,000, insisting that he wasn't a flight risk, however, considering the charges are pretty low, it's a good amount already.
A close family friend of the Ellingsons has created a GoFundMe to support the Ellingsons family.
We're still in the early stages and aren't aware of all the details at this point. What we have learned so far must be worrying when someone is killed in this manner, particularly following Joe Biden demonizing millions of Republican Americans as extremists. We warned of the danger it was, right from the moment Biden made his address to the nation which he claimed was engaging people. This gives those in a state of flux a reason to follow their base instincts. Liberal media, including MSNBC, have added to the mix by claiming they believed that Republicans were an “threat to democracy,” they were “evil,” and “we are at war.” I'm not sure if that affected Brandt in this instance, but using the term “Republican extremist group” certainly seems to be a parody of Joe Biden. However, I realize that Biden's statements have been provoking all sorts of attacks against Republicans via social media and they're out of control.
“I have a job, a life and a house and things I don't want to see go by the wayside — family that are very important to me,” Brandt stated to the judge. I'm assuming that 18-year-old Cayler Ellingson had these things, too, until Brandt took them away, allegedly due to political reasons.
