On a Friday just two days before Christmas in 2016, the community of Faribault, Minnesota, was shaken by a tragedy that unfolded at the local Chamber of Commerce. Barbara Jean Larson, a 59-year-old Caucasian woman, was at her workplace, where she was the well-regarded Membership Director. Known for her friendly and gregarious nature, she had been a familiar face at the Chamber for over a decade.
That afternoon, at approximately 12:15 p.m., a citizen reported seeing two people down inside
the Chamber of Commerce building. When police arrived, they discovered the bodies of Barbara and her ex-husband, 61-year-old Richard Larson, behind a desk. A firearm was found at the scene, and it was determined that no other Chamber employees were present or harmed during the incident.
The investigation that followed revealed a grim sequence of events. Authorities concluded that Richard Larson, a retired Faribault police officer, had shot and killed Barbara before taking his own life. The couple had divorced in 2014, and the situation had evidently escalated to a dangerous point. Just a week before the fatal encounter, Barbara had sought and been granted a harassment restraining order against her former husband.
The incident was officially ruled a murder-suicide, leaving the community to grapple with the sudden and violent loss of two of its well-known members. The Faribault Police Department, where Richard Larson had once worked, expressed their collective heartbreak at having to respond to such a devastating event involving people they knew personally. The tragedy left behind the couple's two adult sons and a community mourning a life cut short by domestic violence.
