Amber Alert suspect charged with kidnapping woman, children at gunpoint and murdering man in custody

A man accused of kidnapping a woman and her four children at gunpoint early Friday morning is in custody and the victims have been reported safe, officials in Minneapolis said.

Chad Aanerud, 35, was arrested during a traffic stop after the vehicle he was last seen in, a white minivan, was pulled over in Morrison County, the Minnesota The Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) and local authorities confirmed this to USA TODAY.

The victims, identified by police as the man’s 33-year-old girlfriend and four children ages 3, 7, 11 and 14, were found safe in the vehicle, according to the Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office, the agency that reported the family’s kidnapping. triggering a state-wide Amber Alert.

Before the kidnapping, state officials said Aanerud, who is considered armed and dangerous, allegedly fatally shot someone in a nearby home before setting it on fire.

Authorities identified the man who was fatally shot as Lyle Maske, 62.

The sheriff’s office said the shooting and kidnapping are both under investigation.

It was not immediately known whether the suspect knew Maske or whether the fatal shooting victim knew the victims from the Amber Alert.

According to information from the sheriff’s office, the family was taken from a home where they were staying city ​​of Brainerd in the east-central part of the state, about 130 miles northwest of Minneapolis.

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Minnesota Amber Alert was issued after kidnapping

According to a preliminary investigation, Aanerud arrived at a home on the 15000 block of Loerch Road where the victims were staying around 1:50 a.m. Friday, fired a gun into the ceiling and forced the family to leave with him.

He is also suspected of fatally shooting a man at a nearby home and setting fire to a house on that property.

“Do not approach,” the state agency wrote about Aanerud in a press release about the armed kidnapping.

This story has been updated to add new information.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her at X @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Amber Alert: Woman and 4 children kidnapped from Crow Wing County, Minnesota