US Rep. Walz’s brother killed while camping due to storm
Published 3:13 pm Monday, June 20, 2016
ST. PAUL — The brother of a Minnesota congressman was killed during a Father’s Day camping trip when a powerful storm brought a tree down on his tent, which also injured his son, authorities said Monday.
Cook County Sheriff’s Office said the 43-year-old man killed in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota at about 10:30 p.m. Sunday was Craig Walz, the brother of Democratic U.S. Rep Tim Walz.
A spokeswoman for the congressman also confirmed the death Monday.
Authorities said Craig Walz and his teenage son at Duncan Lake with another man and his son when the storm began and were getting ready to leave the campsite. The two other campers were outside the tent when the tree came down, Chief Deputy Will Sandstrom said. The storm’s straight line winds snapped large trees in half, he said.
“As soon as the winds came up, they were trying to get to a safer area away from the trees,” Sandstrom said.
Craig Walz’s son was taken to a hospital and later airlifted to Duluth with severe injuries. There was no immediate word on his condition. Because paramedics had to cross the lake to reach the campsite, authorities decided to retrieve Walz’s body on Monday.
Craig Walz taught math and chemistry at St. Charles High School in southeastern Minnesota and was the school’s former head football coach, Principal Ben Bernard said. Walz, who taught at the school since 2003, “bent over backward” for students who did not think they liked math or science, he added.
A separate emergency call at about the same time Sunday involved a man camping on Clove Lake who had also been injured by a falling tree, according to Cook County sheriff’s officials. The man was taken to a hospital with injuries to his upper body; his condition was not immediately known.