Burnsville man accused of fatally shooting son as boy protected mother dies from shooting himself

The man charged with fatally shooting his son as the boy was protecting his mother in their Burnsville home has died from shooting himself at the scene, officials said Monday.

The death of Danair C. Harden, 30, has preliminarily been ruled a suicide, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office said. The Dakota County Attorney’s Office notified the District Court on July 9 of Harden’s death, according to court records.

Amir Demarion Harden, 8, was shot in the head and neck on June 5 and died on June 9 at HCMC.

Danair Harden was in court earlier on June 5 on charges that he assaulted the boy’s mother, Cherish Edwards, on May 30. He was arrested, jailed then freed on $4,000 bail in the afternoon before the shooting. Prosecutors had asked for bail to be set at $10,000.

Burnsville police and fire personnel were alerted to the shooting in the family’s apartment in the 13800 block of Echo Lake Drive. Officers found Harden and his son both with gunshot wounds, police said. Both were taken to HCMC.

An account from the boy’s mother is consistent with what police have disclosed so far.

“His father tried to shoot & kill me, but my son was shot instead,” Cherish Edwards wrote in an online fundraiser for the family’s expenses related to the shooting. “Amir tried wrestling the gun out of his father’s hand. I screamed for him to leave and go to the neighbors. He refused & said ‘mommy, I’m not leaving you here.’”

Danair Harden was in Dakota County District Court on the morning before the shooting to answer charges that he choked Edwards in their home on May 30 after she told him she wanted to end their 10-year relationship. He tried to stop her from calling for help and fled before police arrived, according to gross misdemeanor and misdemeanor counts of interfering with an emergency call, domestic assault and disorderly conduct.

Edwards told the officers that Harden has a permit to carry a gun and almost always has one with him. She was “concerned that [an assault] would happen again,” the charges read. “[She] advised that there have been other domestic disputes between her and the defendant several times many years ago.”

Law enforcement caught up to Harden and booked him into jail shortly before 3 a.m. the day of the shooting. During the hearing late that morning, prosecutors told the court that Harden “poses an immediate threat to [Edwards’] safety” and requested an immediate no-contact order be issued.