A Literal Axe Murderer to Be Freed, Thank Gov. Walz

David Brom, now 53, axed his parents, brother and sister to death in Minnesota in 1988 when he was 16. The axe killer is set for supervised release under a juvenile sentencing law signed by Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Now we have a literal axe murderer free among us.

David Brom will move to a halfway house for a work release program on July 29 after receiving four murder convictions and three life sentences for the 1988 killings in Rochester, according to multiple reports and prison records.

Walz abolished life sentences without the possibility of early release for juvenile offenders in 2023, prompting criticism from more tough-on-crime Republicans now that Brom is set to reenter the community.

“We must prioritize public safety over leniency for violent criminals,” Republican Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth said in a statement posted on X Thursday by Minnesota House Republicans. “The legislature must act to ensure that our laws reflect the seriousness of such unimaginable crimes.”

Brom apologized and said he was immature. Not a psychopath?

The Story He Told a Classmate

In the early evening of February 18, 1988, Olmsted County sheriff’s deputies discovered the bodies of Bernard (41), Paulette (41), Diane (13), and Richard (11) Brom in the Brom family home. Missing from the home were the two oldest sons, David (16) and Joe (18). The police had been notified by the administration of David’s school that students had reported hearing a “rumor” that David had informed another student that he had killed his family that morning,

A school friend said he told her he killed his family after an argument with his father.

“He said he hit his dad with an axe, he kept hitting his dad and his dad kept on getting up.” The girl said Brom told her he had gotten into an argument with his father at about 11:30 p.m. the previous night, and that he then stayed up until about 3 a.m. She indicated that Brom detailed the crime, saying that he went to his parents’ room, first killing his father. Then he hit his mother and went to his brother’s room. Then he saw his sister standing over their mother in the upstairs hallway, at which point he attacked them both.

Watch this clip from one of the officers who was on the scene: