Search warrants shed light on Super 8 shooting
Jan. 18—CLOQUET — New information obtained from search warrants is shedding light on the shooting that left three dead, including the alleged shooter, at the Super 8 hotel Jan. 8.
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.
According to the search warrant, 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.
The investigation is still ongoing, and authorities still have large amounts of evidence to examine.
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. Police have yet to determine a motive or a connection between the alleged perpetrator and the victims.
