If you search for the name Cayler Ellingson, you'll get a handful of local stories out of North Dakota about the 18-year-old's death in what was manifestly a hate crime.  What you won't find is any national coverage.  Certainly, there's none as of the time of this writing.  Slowly, though, conservative outlets, including Fox (as of late last night) are picking up on the story.  The reason for the mainstream media's silence is because, at least as of now, the known facts indicate that this hate crime came about because the victim was White and conservative.

According to a local news report about Ellingson's murder, Shannon Brandt, a 41-year-old White man, called the police at 2:35 A.M. to report that he'd hit a pedestrian who was threatening him.  He also admitted that he was driving drunk.  Later, when speaking to a radio station, Brandt claimed that Ellingson belonged to an unidentified Republican extremist organization.  Brandt further claimed that he acted in self-defense because he was afraid members of that group were "coming to get him."  In other words, Brandt has his defense in order.

Ellingson, of course, cannot defend himself.  However, he was able to provide his mother with some real-time statements about what was happening:

Court documents say just before the crash, Ellingson called his mom and asked if they knew who Brandt was. She said yes, and told her son she was on her way to pick him up. A short time later, court documents say Ellingson called his mom again to say that "he" or "they" were chasing him. It was after the second call that Ellingson could not be reached again.

By the way, that's not hearsay because it falls under two exceptions: a present sense impression, meaning that Ellingson was reporting in real time about what he perceived, and an excited utterance, because he was clearly under stress when he called his mother to report that he was being chased right before he was murdered.

Currently, Brand has been charged with criminal vehicular homicide and DUI.  It remains to be seen how the case plays out in the judicial system.

What's very clear is that what happened in North Dakota is a perfect example of a hate crime.  Indeed, it perfectly reflected the extremist intolerance the left keeps warning us about.  Brandt murdered a young man in cold blood because he disagreed with that man's political views.  If we had a media establishment that reported the news, as opposed to a series of propaganda outlets that push the Democrat party line, all Americans would be shocked by this story, not just the percentage who read conservative news outlets.

Image: Cayler Ellingson, family-provided photo; Shannon Brandt, Foster County booking photo.