Authorities ID victims, suspected gunman in Cloquet motel shooting
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Updated: Jan. 11, 6:15 a.m.
Police in Cloquet on Wednesday released the names of the two victims and alleged gunman who died in a shooting at a motel in the northern Minnesota city earlier this week.
The shooting happened Monday evening at the Super 8 motel in Cloquet. Authorities said a man fatally shot two other people before taking his own life.
Cloquet police on Wednesday said the two victims were 22-year-old Shellby Marie Trettel of Cloquet, who worked as a clerk at the motel, and 35-year-old Patrick Jeffrey Roers of Deer River, who was found in a vehicle outside.
Police identified the suspected gunman, who was found outside the motel with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, as 32-year-old Nicholas Elliot Lenius of Ramsey.
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Authorities have not released information on a possible motive for the shooting. At a news conference Tuesday, Cloquet Police Chief Derek Randall said investigators believe both men were guests at the motel, but did not provide further information on any known connections among the three people.
Hundreds of community members attended a vigil Wednesday evening for Trettel outside the Super 8 motel.
A check of Minnesota court records for Lenius shows a 2014 conviction for drunken driving, and two other traffic-related misdemeanor convictions.
The shooting prompted a shelter-in-place warning for a couple of hours on Monday evening in the busy commercial area along State Highway 33 on Cloquet’s south side.
“We extend our heartfelt sympathy to the families and friends affected by the tragic incident. We share in the community’s sorrow and offer our support to all those affected by this profound loss,” Cloquet police said in an update Wednesday. “Our department and law enforcement partners are dedicated to working diligently in investigating this incident, aiming to bring clarity and understanding to the circumstances surrounding it as quickly as possible.”
An online fundraiser for Trettel’s family and to help with funeral expenses said Trettel “was just planning out her future, living life to the fullest, and most of all had a huge heart and cared deeply for all of those she knew.”
Trettel’s father, Tim Trettel, posted a statement on social media describing his daughter as a “caring compassionate and wonderfully colorful person.”
“She loved her siblings and friends and her music. Shellby was a person who you could always count on,” he wrote. “Shellby Trettel is a memorable person who has touched many lives. She will be so dearly missed and forever in our hearts.”
A funeral service for Trettel will take place next Wednesday, Jan. 17, in Cloquet.
An online fundraiser to help Roers’ family with funeral expenses said he had just completed a day of work at a new job as an equipment operator. “He went out and brought a pizza back to his hotel room, he finished eating and went out to sit in his car to relax” when he was shot and killed, organizers of the fundraiser wrote.
Roers’ obituary said family and friends will remember “his infectious smile, laugh, and his ability to make even the newest stranger feel like an old friend.” Roers — one of six siblings, and known as “Bubba” — was an Air Force veteran, and several years ago had purchased land next to his parents’ home on a lake near Deer River. “It was his Utopia,” his family wrote.
Funeral services for Roers are planned for next Tuesday, Jan. 16, in Grand Rapids.
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