Alleged Murderer of Cayler Ellingson Released on Bail

Shannon Brandt, the 41-year-old accused of murdering 18-year-old Cayler Ellingson for being a supposed “Republican extremist,” was freed Tuesday from the Stutsman County jail in North Dakota, Breitbart News has confirmed.

An official at the jail told Breitabrt News that Brandt had posted a $50,000 bond and was released.

As Breitbart News reported earlier, citing local news, Brandt told local police that he had run Ellingson over with his car.

Valley News Live reported:

Court documents say at 2:35 Sunday morning, 41-year-old Shannon Brandt called 911 to report that he had hit a pedestrian because he was threatening him. Brandt told State Radio that the pedestrian was part of a Republican extremist group and that he was afraid they were “coming to get him.” The pedestrian has been identified in a GoFundMe page as 18-year-old Cayler Ellingson.

After visiting the scene where the incident happened, deputies went to Brandt’s house in Glenfield, ND, which is about 12 minutes from the crash scene. Brandt admitted to consuming alcohol before the incident, and stated he hit Ellingson with his car because he had a political argument with him. Brandt also admitted to deputies that he initially left the crash scene, then returned to call 911, but left again before deputies could arrive.

Court documents say just before the crash, Ellingson called his mom and asked if they knew who Brandt was. She said yes, and told her son she was on her way to pick him up. A short time later, court documents say Ellingson called his mom again to say that “he” or “they” were chasing him. It was after the second call that Ellingson could not be reached again.

Brandt was charged “with criminal vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a crash involving a death,” Fox News reported.

The killing occurred just days after President Joe Biden held a “unity” summit aimed at rallying Americans to fight so-called “MAGA Republicans,” whom Biden called a “threat” to the country in a speech earlier this month.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.