BY CURT BROWN
Star Tribune
Alexandria police have connected a couple who shot a Douglas County deputy before a murder-suicide last week with a burglary earlier that day at the Douglas County Animal Hospital. Devin Blowers, 24, and his girlfriend, Katie Christopherson, 29, shot Deputy Dustin Alexander outside a farm Feb. 24.. He was saved by his bullet-resistant vest.
Authorities say Blowers later shot Christopherson and then killed himself. Their bodies were found by an outbuilding with two guns.
Alexandria Police Capt. Scott Kent said Friday that items recovered from the scene linked the pair from North Dakota to a burglary earlier that morning at the animal hospital. They took an undisclosed quantity of veterinary medication. They gained entry by force through a locked door.
Family members said the couple met in a drug treatment program in Fargo and recently Christopherson gave birth to their premature baby girl. When they learned they needed to go back to treatment before being given custody of the baby, it pushed them over the edge, Blowers' father told the Star Tribune.
