Police await autopsy, toxicology report from Super 8 shooting

Macklin Caruso, The Pine Journal, Cloquet, Minn.
·2 min read

Jan. 29—CLOQUET — Investigators are awaiting autopsy and toxicology reports from the

shooting

that left three dead, including the shooter, at the Super 8 hotel Jan. 8.

The report results are expected to be released in the next four to six weeks, the Cloquet Police Department said in a news release Monday morning. Police expect these findings will help them better understand the circumstances surrounding the shooting.

Police identified Nicholas Elliot Lenius, 32, of Ramsey, Minnesota, as the primary suspect in the killing of the hotel clerk

Shellby Marie Trettel,

22, of Cloquet, and Patrick Jeffrey Roers, 35, of Deer River.

Police have yet to establish a clear motive for the shooting or a connection between the suspect and the victims, the news release said. Investigators are focused on examining digital evidence from the scene.

According to the

search warrants,

Lenius appeared to be talking to someone on the phone during the incident.

During the investigation, officers spoke with Lenius' supervisor, who said he received a text message from Lenius that said, "WTF is going on." Lenius' supervisor then called Lenius at 6:30 p.m., which matches the time frame of the phone call on the footage.

While searching a 2020 Ford F-150 pickup truck registered to Lenius, police found a camera that appears to have been actively recording.

Police were called at 6:33 p.m. Jan. 8 by a hotel employee who found Trettel and said she looked like she was attacked. Trettel was transported to St. Luke's in Duluth, where she was pronounced dead.

Police believe that Trettel was Lenius' first victim, who then went outside and shot Roers multiple times while he was inside a vehicle. Lenius then walked a short distance and fatally shot himself.

Based on surveillance footage, police believe the entire incident lasted about 10 minutes.