On August 29, 2022, four men were found shot to death in a wheat field near Cando, North Dakota. Victims were 56-year-old Douglas Doug Edward Dulmage of Leeds and three hired workers identified as Justin Bracken, 34, his father Richard Bracken, 64, and Richard’s brother Robert Bracken, 59. All four were discovered unresponsive while working the harvest on Dulmage’s land.

Investigators with the Towner County Sheriff’s Office and the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation initially treated the scene as a murder-suicide. A .357 caliber revolver was recovered next to Robert Bracken’s body. Autopsy findings concluded that Robert Bracken shot and killed Richard and Justin Bracken and Douglas Dulmage before dying of a single self-inflicted gunshot; the other three victims died of multiple gunshot wounds. The motive appears connected to a dispute between Robert and Richard Bracken that had reportedly escalated for a week or more prior to the shootings.

Dulmage is described as a husband and father of two daughters and a longtime farmer in the community. Local farmers helped finish his harvest after the deaths. If anyone knew Douglas Dulmage or has information about the dispute between the Bracken brothers, please come forward.