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Authorities have identified the three people who died in an apparent murder-suicide over the weekend near Cloquet.

Cody W. Pirila shot 31-year-old Skylar C. Hunter and Jamie A. Hunter, 51, of Moose Lake, Minn., the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office said.

The Hunters, father and son, were found dead by sheriff's deputies outside the roommates' home about 20 miles northwest of Cloquet in rural Culver Township, the Sheriff's Office said. A motive for the killings has not been disclosed.

A few miles from the scene, a state trooper attempted to make a traffic stop of a vehicle being driven by the 31-year-old Pirila, whom they determined during the pursuit to be suspected of killing the Hunters, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Pirila refused to stop for the trooper. In a call to 911, he "confessed to the murders [while also] indicating he wanted to kill himself," read a statement from the Sheriff's Office.

A law enforcement squad forced Pirila's vehicle into a ditch just west of Cloquet near Big Lake Road and Twin Lakes Drive. Pirila then fatally shot himself while in his vehicle, the Sheriff's Office said.

An online fundraising page set up by a relative of the Hunters described Pirila as Skylar Hunter's best friend and as someone that Jamie Hunter's family "invited into their home many times."

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482