In April this year, Hayden Jagst was sentenced to 40-60 years in prison for the murder of his policeman father in June 2021. He was 18 when he shot Edward Jagst, 48, while he was asleep in the basement of the family home in Brighton, Michigan, on 21 June. Afterwards, he walked past his 14-year-old sister, who had heard the gunshots, and chillingly announced that their dad – who served as a police officer for Canton Township – was dead. Jagst told her to keep watching TV and not to call the police, but she ignored him, and he was arrested after she identified her brother as the shooter.
During his trial, Jagst was deemed a “dangerous man”. His journal entries were said to have been disturbing, and showed his admiration for mass murderers and a 14-year-old boy who unsuccessfully tried to attack a school, but died when he killed himself during a police shoot-out. “I pay my respects to this fallen soldier. I wish I knew the boy. If that were the case, we could both shoot up his school… or mine,” he wrote. He also wrote that he wanted to kill others by attacking a school, hospital, clinic or psychiatrist’s office, saying, “If you kill yourself, no one remembers you. When you kill others, you will be forever remembered.” Another entry read, “I only have two goals in life. One is to kill, the other is to die… I want revenge, revenge on humanity, the only way I can do that is mass murder.” His probation agent Connie Miller said, “He had an unhealthy fascination with weapons. He’s a dangerous young man.”
Jagst appeared to show some remorse in court. “God knows that I deserve this, but I do want you to know that I’m truly sorry that I took my father’s life. I regret this every single day,” he said. “The decision I made can never be changed. I feel this impact every day. They lost a good person that day. I took a good person’s life. I regret doing this and I know that the most I can give is my apology today. But I just want you all to know that I’m truly sorry that I did this and, most importantly, I’m sorry to my own father. I can only hope in
