In the quiet town of Cloquet, Minnesota, the evening of January 8, 2024, was shattered by a senseless act of violence that claimed the life of 22-year-old Shelby Marie Trettel, a White/Caucasian female. Trettel was working at the Super 8 hotel when a guest, identified as 32-year-old Nicholas Elliot Lenius of Ramsey, Minnesota, fatally shot her. The tragic event unfolded around 6:30 p.m., when a 911 call was made from the hotel reporting that an employee had been attacked.
Upon arrival, police discovered Trettel with a gunshot wound; she was transported to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead.
The violence did not end with Trettel. In the hotel parking lot, police found the body of another victim, 35-year-old Patrick Jeffrey Roers of Deer River, who had also been shot and killed. After securing the area and issuing a shelter-in-place alert to the community, law enforcement located Lenius on the hotel property. He was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound and a firearm nearby. Investigators utilized surveillance footage to confirm that Lenius was the shooter in both homicides before he took his own life.
In the wake of the tragedy, family and friends remembered Shelby Trettel as a kindhearted and vibrant individual who touched many lives. Her family described her as a caring and compassionate person who would put others before herself. A candlelight vigil was held outside the Super 8, a place where she had worked since she was a teenager. The motive for the shooting remains unclear, leaving a community to grapple with the randomness of the violence. The investigation by the Cloquet Police Department has included interviews and the processing of evidence, but a clear reason for Lenius's actions has not been determined. The incident has been described by Trettel's family as a "random, senseless act" that has forever altered their lives.
