Minnesota gunman Gregory Paul Ulrich, 67, has been charged with murder
Minnesota gunman Gregory Paul Ulrich, 67, appeared in court for the first time in a wheelchair Thursday morning where he was charged with murder after he allegedly stormed a health clinic, shooting five victims at random and detonating three homemade bombs before he called 911 on himself.
Ulrich was charged Thursday with one count of second-degree murder with intent-not-premeditated, four counts of first-degree premeditated attempted murder, one count of gross disregard for human life or property by discharging an explosive device and one count of carrying a firearm in a public place without a permit.
If convicted he faces 40 years in prison for the murder charge and 20 years for each attempted murder charge.
Bail was set at $10 million without conditions or $5 million with conditions including that he must submit to GPS monitoring, make no contact with any Allina Health Clinic, not possess any firearms, not leave the state of Minnesota and remain medically compliant.
According to a criminal complaint filed Thursday, Ulrich entered the Allina Health Clinic in Wright County, Buffalo, just before 11am Tuesday armed with a handgun, two magazines and four homemade bombs.
He allegedly shot five people including one victim six times and detonated three homemade bombs before he called police and said he would surrender.
A fourth pipe bomb that had not detonated was also recovered by authorities.
Ulrich also left a ‘rambling message’ on his cell phone recorded shortly before the attack where he spoke about his injuries and his intentions toward the clinic and its staff, authorities said in a press conference after the court appearance.
Mother-of-two Lindsay Overbay, 37, who worked as a medical assistant at the facility died Tuesday after being transported to the Hennepin County Medical Center.
Three other victims remain in hospital with gunshot wounds while a fifth has been discharged. One of the victims was named by the clinic Thursday as Sherry Curtis – a nurse who had worked at the center for seven years.
Officials addressed concerns raised in the days following the shooting about how Ulrich managed to get his hands on a firearm as it emerged he had made threats to carry out a mass shooting at the clinic and a doctor had taken out a restraining order against him in 2018.
Wright County Sheriff Sean Deringer said ‘human error’ did mean ‘red flags’ could sometimes ‘slip through the cracks’ and authorities would be investigating how Ulrich got a gun.
He said he could not reveal whether Ulrich had applied for or been granted a permit or not because of Minnesota laws. The suspect’s former roommate claimed this week he had seen a permit and handgun obtained by Ulrich just last year but this is yet to be verified.
Deringer said the sheriff’s department had not had any interactions with Ulrich for around a year prior to this week’s attack and urged people to put the ‘blame on Mr. Ulrich who is responsible for the devastation.’
Wright County Sheriff Sean Deringer addressed concerns raised in the days following the shooting about how Ulrich managed to get his hands on a firearm at a press conference Thursday
Wright County Attorney Brian Lutes said the 67-year-old had gone to the clinic with two loaded handguns and four ‘IEDs equipped with gunpowder’
Ulrich wore dark-framed glasses and sat in a wheelchair as he appeared via Zoom from Wright County Jail Thursday morning.
He spoke only to confirm how to pronounce his last name and to say no when asked if he had anything further to say.
Wright County Attorney Brian Lutes said at Thursday’s court hearing: ‘He went to the clinic knowing he was going to shoot the clinic up… and knowing he was going to ignite those bombs.’
Ulrich’s victims are believed to have been ‘random but the location [of the shooting] was not,’ he said.
The attorney described the suspected murderer as a ‘significant flight risk’ given the length of his possible conviction with the charges carrying consecutive sentences.
Lutes said he did not have enough to charge Ulrich with first-degree premeditated murder over the death of medical assistant Lindsay Overbay but said the murder charge could be upgraded later by a grand jury.
A first-degree premeditated murder conviction would mean life in prison with no possibility of parole.
Ulrich, who was represented by public defender Greg Davis, will next appear in court on March 22.
A jail worker was seen pushing his wheelchair out of the room following the short hearing.
Ulrich stormed Allina Health clinic (above) armed with a handgun before shooting five people including one victim six times and detonating three homemade bombs, authorities say
A map of the Allina Health Clinic which is just one mile from the Super 8 Motel. Suspicious packages were found at both locations
Wright County Attorney Brian Lutes said the 67-year-old had gone to the clinic with a handgun and ‘IEDs equipped with gunpowder.’
Ulrich allegedly fired at least 11 bullets during the shooting rampage and detonated three of the four homemade bombs.
The criminal complaint initially stated that Ulrich had three bombs and detonated two but authorities said at Thursday’s press conference there was now evidence of four bombs in total.
Two bombs were detonated in the lobby tearing holes through the lower metal frame of the exterior sliding door, shattering the glass of the interior sliding door.
A third bomb was detonated in an adjacent workstation.
Bomb squads later found another bomb that had not detonated near to a briefcase left by Ulrich inside the building.
The criminal complaint says the devices matched – with the same black powder encased within a cylinder structure with fuse ignition.
A search of Ulrich’s trailer at a mobile home park and the nearby Super 8 motel where he was staying uncovered more ammunition and a pound of gunpowder consistent with that used in the homemade bombs.
The 67-year-old traveled by bus from the Super 8 motel to the Allina Health Clinic in Buffalo Tuesday morning with a pistol, two loaded Smith and Wesson 9mm magazines, four homemade bombs two marijuana cigarettes and a Ziploc style bag containing 29 rounds of ammunition, the criminal complaint reads.
One magazine had 13 rounds of ammunition and the other had seven rounds of ammunition.
Five health clinic employees were shot in the rampage including Overbay who later died of her injuries Tuesday.
The nurse killed by suspected Minnesota gunman Gregory Paul Ulrich, 67, at a health clinic in Buffalo Tuesday has been identified as 37-year-old mother-of-two Lindsay Overbay (left with her son and husband)
Lindsay Overbay died Tuesday after being rushed to hospital following the attack on the Allina Health Clinic on Crossroads Campus Drive in Wright County, Buffalo, that morning
Allina Health identified another victim Thursday as Sherry Curtis (pictured), a Licensed Practical Nurse at Allina Health who has worked at the facility since 2013
Ulrich allegedly shot Overbay once in the abdomen, with the bullet passing through her liver and spine and exiting her back.
One of the other victims – who has not been identified – was shot six times in the attack in the chest, abdomen, back, upper left arm, and twice in the left forearm.
Another victim was shot once in the back, another once in the abdomen and a fifth shot twice in the leg as they were trying to run out of the clinic away from the gunman.
During the attack, Ulrich detonated the bombs.
The criminal complaint states Ulrich took the Trailblazer bus to the Allina Clinic Tuesday morning from where he had been staying at the Super 8 motel.
Surveillance footage shows Ulrich in a heavy brown jacket and carrying a briefcase arriving at the clinic at 10:52 a.m.
According to the complaint, when Ulrich entered the clinic, staff asked if they could help him.
The suspect pulled out a 9 mm handgun and threatened them before opening fire, shooting one staff member in the back and another in the abdomen.
He then went into the clinic’s interior and continued shooting, striking three other victims.
One victim, known only as victim number 3 was shot twice in the upper leg as they were trying to flee while ‘victim number 4’ was shot six times.
He also fired one shot at his fifth victim – Overbay – who later died from her wounds.
Ulrich then dialled 911 at 10:58am and surrendered to the officers.
Police arrived and found the suspect lying on the ground, the complaint reads.
He told them he had left his cell phone inside which he said contained evidence of the attack, the complaint reads.
The criminal complaint reveals that Ulrich did not have a permit to carry the handgun used to gun down his victims in a public place.
Ulrich’s former roommate told Fox 9 this week the suspect was granted a permit and obtained a firearm last year.
Authorities would not confirm or deny these reports.
Deringer said in the press briefing he could not talk about whether or not Ulrich had received a gun permit because in Minnesota this is ‘private data’.
One of the broken windows following the mass shooting at the clinic Tuesday
Ulrich, from Buffalo, had a vendetta against the Allina Health Clinic (above) on Crossroads Campus Drive in Wright County, Buffalo, and its staff because they refused to give him opioids for a back injury, court records show
He admitted that ‘human error’ could mean sometimes people ‘slip through the cracks’ but said ‘the [gun] law is clear that if they meet this threshold we shall issue [a gun]’.
‘Sometimes our hands are tied,’ he said.
Deringer said the Sheriff’s Department had not had complaints of threats made by Ulrich for around a year while the Wright County Attorney’s Office said it had not dealt with him since 2006.
‘While I know that previous threats were made by Mr. Ulrich I want you to know that we have not had any threats recently in the last few months or year,’ Deringer said.
‘If we are going to push blame I ask that people push blame where it’s due… blame Mr. Ulrich who is responsible for the devastation.’
Lutes said the Wright County Attorney’s Office had not dealt with Ulrich since 2006 over a DWI case.
‘No reports have been referred to my office since 2006,’ he said.
Lutes said he had viewed court documents for the first time this week showing Ulrich had a restraining order taken out against him by a doctor at the clinic – Andrew John Burgdorf – in 2018 and had then violated that order.
Buffalo Police confirmed Tuesday that ‘suspicious packages’ had also been found at the motel – located roughly one mile from the center – Tuesday while some windows appeared to have been blown out in the building
He said this was prosecuted as a misdemeanor by the City of Buffalo Attorney’s Office.
Court records seen by DailyMail.com show a petition for a restraining order was filed against Ulrich by Burgdorf.
Ulrich called Burgdorf three times in an hour, becoming increasingly threatening each time, the filings say.
He threatened the doctor saying that ‘killing one individual wouldn’t be enough’ and speaking of ‘mass violence at a medical clinic and hospitals’, the documents state.
Ulrich had a restraining order taken out against him by one of the facility’s doctors Andrew J Burgdorf MD (above) in 2018, it has been revealed
‘His intent was to create enough of a sensation to get public recognition that would warrant at least 30 years in jail [and] possibly a straight jacket,’ they read.
‘[Ulrich] stated he had practiced different scenarios [and] he was testing how to get through security with a length of steel since he knew he had only seconds after getting past security to achieve his goal.’
The order was granted in November 2018.
Authorities have not confirmed if Burgdorf was in the clinic at the time of Tuesday’s attack.
Three victims remain in hospital with one in a stable but critical condition and the other two upgraded to fair following Tuesday’s attack. A fifth victim was discharged Tuesday.
Allina Health identified another victim Thursday as Sherry Curtis, a licensed practical nurse at Allina Health who has worked at the facility since 2013.
A GoFundMe to help pay for her treatment had topped $9,000 Thursday.
Authorities said Thursday they do not plan to identify the remaining victims.
Overbay’s family released a statement Thursday thanking the community for their support and paying tribute to her.
‘On behalf of Lindsay Overbay’s family, we would like to express a sincere thank you to our community for the outpouring of love and prayers that we have received,’ it read.
‘Lindsay was a dedicated mother, wife, daughter, sister, aunt and friend. Her laughter, abundant and loud, would echo through hallways. Her legacy will live on in the hearts of her children.
‘We would like to extend our thoughts and prayers to the other four victims and their families. #LindsayStrong.’
A GoFundMe set up for her family – including her two young children – had topped $206,000 Thursday.