North Dakota Highway Patrol Captain Bryan Niewind has dismissed Shannon Brandt’s claim that the 18-year-old Cayler Ellingson who he killed was a Republican extremist.
Brandt struck Ellingson with his SUV following a street dance in McHenry, North Dakota, early Sunday. Ellingson was admitted to a hospital in Carrington, where he was pronounced dead. Later that day, investigators arrested Brandt at his home, after which Brandt admitted to having purposely hit the boy following a political argument.
Prior to his death, Ellingson had called his mother and asked whether she knew Brandt, the probable cause affidavit said. The teenager made another call a short while later, saying “that ‘he’ or ‘they’ were chasing him,” according to the affidavit. She could not reach her son after the call.
Brandt also told investigators that he had been drinking alcohol before hitting Ellingson. A chemical breath test showed Brandt’s blood alcohol content to be above 0.08 percent—above the legal limit for driving.
Biden’s Speech
Ellingson’s death has triggered further backlash against President Joe Biden, who had recently painted Republican supporters in an extremely negative light. In a primetime address on Sept. 1, Biden claimed “MAGA Republicans” are threatening the “very foundations of our republic” and that they held an “extreme ideology.”“There is no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans, and that is a threat to this country,” the Democrat said in front of an ominous red backdrop and flanked by two Marines.
In a Twitter post, Mia Cathell, a reporter at Townhall, said that Brandt has been “scrubbing” his social media since his release.