A Minnesota man has been charged with second-degree murder after he allegedly confessed to beating a convicted sex offender to death, police shared. At one point, he is believed to have used a moose antler during the attack.
Court records show Levi Axtell, 27, turned himself into the police in Grand Marais, Minnesota, after killing the man, The Associated Press reported. When arriving at the station, Axtell was allegedly “covered with blood.”
Authorities say that the Minnesota man admitted to driving to the home of a 77-year-old man, entering his residence, and hitting him 15-20 times over the head with a “space-style shovel” before he “finished him off” by hitting him several times with a large moose antler.
The Star-Tribune has identified the victim as Lawerence V. Scully, who was convicted of the sexual assault of a 6-year-old girl in 1979, according to Cook County Sheriff Pat Eliasen. Scully served jail time for the crime but was released in 1982.
Axtell shared with police that he believed Scully had not only sexually assaulted children in the past, but, he also claimed that he had seen Scully “parked in his vehicle at locations where children were present and believed he would reoffend.”
A probable cause affidavit obtained by Fox News says that Axtell thought Scully had been stalking his toddler daughter at her day care.
According to Fox News, Axtell had filed an order for protection in 2018 against Scully, but while it was at first granted, a judge later threw it out for reasons not made clear.
Axtell is the nephew of former St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell, the Tribune shared in its report.
The former police chief spoke with the Tribune about the incident, saying that he and his family have been impacted by this heartbreaking incident.
“I love my nephew and my entire family, a family that has been deeply impacted by this heartbreaking incident,” Todd Axtell told the paper. “I’m also thinking about the amazing Grand Marais community during this difficult time. I have always believed in and supported the criminal justice system — a system that will now do what it's designed to do.”
Axtell is currently being held on a $1 million bond and is set to appear in court at the beginning of next month.
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