Super 8 shooting fueled by meth, 'monsters'

The Cloquet Police Department and investigators of the deadly Jan. 8 shooting at the Super 8 hotel in Cloquet have determined that the shooter was a stranger to his two victims, had methamphetamine in his system, and was likely having a "mental health episode" when he shot a front desk clerk inside the hotel, a guest in the parking lot, and then himself.

The shooter, Nicholas Elliot Lenius, 32, contacted a work associate during the early evening incident and said he was "dealing with monsters," Cloquet police chief Derek Randall wrote in a press release issued Monday.

After a thorough search o...