Shooter expressed frustration with court system

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — The man accused of shooting two people at a northern Minnesota courthouse blamed the crime on his frustration with the court system in a phone conversation before he died.

Daniel Schlienz told a friend in his hometown of Grand Marais that Cook County Attorney Tim Scannell convinced the jury that an innocent person was guilty. Schlienz was on trial for criminal sexual conduct and shot Scannell and another man following his conviction. In phone records obtained by the Duluth News Tribune, Schlienz told his friend that he was planning to kill himself and didn’t want to kill anyone else.

Scannell was shot in the chest, pelvis and leg. Gregory Thompson was shot in the leg. Both survived.

Schlienz died just days following that phone conversation after becoming sick at the St. Louis County Jail.