Man indicted for shooting, killing father at uncle's Pine County hunting cabin
A grand jury on Wednesday indicted a Cambridge, Minnesota man for the shooting death of his 62-year-old father at a hunting cabin last November.
Kirk Hazlett III, 31, was charged with two counts of kidnapping and one count each of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and first-degree burglary.
Court documents allege that on Nov. 15, 2024, Hazlett shot and killed his father at his uncle's hunting cabin in Hinckley, Minnesota.
Charges say Hazlett's father, uncle and another man were at the cabin when Hazlett's uncle, the victim's brother, received a notification on his phone from a trail camera at the entrance of the property showing a person walking up the driveway with a gun in hand.
Hazlett's uncle heard three gunshots while he went to another room to grab a handgun, the criminal complaint says. He came out of the room to see Hazlett standing with a gun. His brother was still "breathing a little bit," he later told police.
The charges say that Hazlett told his uncle and the other man to sit on a couch. He then walked over and shot his father again.
Hazlett eventually let the two men go, telling them to leave their cell phones.
The men then ran out of the cabin and went to a neighbor's home to call the police. The victim's brother said that the son and the father "weren't getting along and hadn't for a long time," and the son appeared "very coherent" during the shooting.
Deputies later arrested Hazlett at his home in Cambridge, where his girlfriend told investigators he did not like the new security camera system at the hunting cabin.
Police had been called to the cabin approximately one month before the shooting for a disturbance. Hazlett's father reported that his son was drinking and threatening him. He told law enforcement that he wanted his son to leave, and Hazlett was later determined to be trespassing, according to charges.
Hazlett's next scheduled court date is in April.
