Todd Besser and his son found 'shot dead by cop's youngest son'

Off duty: Elk River Police Officer Todd Besser (pictured) was shot dead Saturday in an apparent domestic dispute with his youngest son Christopher

A 21-year-old man turned himself into police on Saturday after allegedly shooting dead his off-duty police officer father and older brother in a domestic dispute.

Wright County Sheriff's deputies were called to a St Michael, Minnesota home Saturday evening where they found 49-year-old Elk River Police Officer Todd Besser and his oldest son Blake, 27, shot dead.

Officer Besser's youngest son Christopher Besser was later arrested at a nearby convenience store, after calling police to confess to the crime.

Neighbors said that the Bessers had lived at the home on the 4500 block of Mayfield Avenue for at least 14 years, but that the parents had divorced and since moved out of the house, leaving the home to their three adult sons.

Investigators have not revealed what transpired before the shooting, but have described the incident as a 'domestic situation'. 

Authorities say Besser got off work at 6pm and that they received a 911 call from a 'male party' at the home about 45 minutes later.  

Neighbor Jeff Mastro told the Star Tribune that he was sitting in his garage across the street Saturday evening when he heard a loud noise around 6:30pm.

About five to 10 minutes later, Mastro says he heard a second even-louder noise that 'sounded like a garbage truck in the street dropping something.'

Another 15 minutes passed and Mastro said the street became swarmed with police cruisers, and cops broke into the house with their guns out. 

Family fight: Christopher T Besser, 21 (left), turned himself into police less than an hour after the bodies of his cop father and older brother Blake, 27 (right), were found shot dead in their St Michael, Minnesota home 

Mystery: Wright County Sheriff's investigators have released little information on what transpired inside the house before the shooting 

Childhood home: The Besser family had lived in the home for the past 14 years. But the parents had divorced and since moved out, leaving the home to their three adult sons 

Police who entered the home found 27-year-old Blake Besser first, dead from an apparent gunshot wound in the kitchen. They later found his father's body in the basement, also suffering a bullet wound. 

According to the dispatcher's report, it appears that Blake Besser called 911 as he was dying.

The dispatcher said the caller stated 'his brother shot him in the chest' and that soon after it sounded as though the phone dropped. The dispatcher said they could hear moaning and breathing but that the caller stopped responding to questions. 

Police were looking for Christopher Besser when he called the Wright County Sheriff's office at around 7:45pm from a nearby Qwik Stop, saying he wanted to turn himself in. 

He surrendered to authorities at the store and was taken into custody without incident. 

Brave: In addition to serving 16 years with the Elk River Police Department, Todd Besser was also in the Air Force for 12 years

Tragic: Besser had recently remarried, according to photos posted on his Facebook, and was living with his new wife in Ostego

Kelcie Pumarlo was on duty at the shop when Besser came in and asked to the use the phone. She says he didn't act like anything was wrong. 

'I gave [the phone] to him, and he took it outside. I had no idea who he called. It was during a big rush, and I had quite a few people here during that time.

'Then my customer was like, "What’s going on outside?" And that’s when I turned and looked. I saw two cops pointing their guns, and the kid lifting up his shirt.' 

After Besser's arrest, Wright County Sheriff  Joe Hagerty said that they were seeking no other suspects and that 'the public is no in danger'.  

At a press conference on Sunday, Elk County Police Chief Ron Nierenhausen said his department has been hit hard by the death of Besser.  

Torn up: Elk River Police Chief Ron Nierenhausen was overcome with emotion when he spoke about Officer Besser's death at a press conference on Sunday 

'There’s only been only one officer to be lost in the line of duty in Sherburne County, and that was in the 1900s, so this is new territory for us,' Nierenhausen said. 'It’s difficult for any agency to go through this. With roughly 10,000 officers in the state, we have had outreach from many agencies lending help in any way they can. That’s just the way we (in law enforcemet) do it.' 

In addition to serving 16 years with the Elk River Police Department, Besser was also in the Air Force for 12 years of active duty.  He had recently ended a four-year stint as a liaison officer with the city's public schools and was awarded a medal of valor in 2001 for stopping a suicidal man from killing a fellow officer.

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'I supervised Todd for many years and we would sit car to car and talk about our military experiences and we were close in age so we shared a lot of the same things,' Nierenhausen said. 'No matter when you saw him you knew you were going to get a friendly greeting.' 

Elk River Mayor John Dietz also spoke on Besser's death, saying he has watched the highly-publicized killings of police officers across the country with anxiety hoping that it would never come to his town.   

'And now it has,' Dietz said. 'Officer Besser was part of our police family. Our police department is a family. As chief said, we’re a relatively small department if you have been around these guys very long you know they all take care of each other. They stick up for each other and always have each others backs. It is their second family.' 

Besser recently remarried, according to photos posted to his Facebook. And it appears that his son Blake Besser lived in the home where he was killed with his fiancée. Officer Besser appears to have another son named Derrick. It's unclear whether he was living in the house at the time of the incident. 

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