Mass Shooting Suspect Had Threatened 'Revenge' on Clinic

Doctor told police Gregory Paul Ulrich had talked about getting revenge for 'torture'
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 10, 2021 4:48 PM CST
Cops: Mass Shooting Suspect Had Threatened Clinic Before
Law enforcement personnel walk past a broken window outside of the Allina Health clinic, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021, in Buffalo, Minn.   (David Joles/Star Tribune via AP)

A man who opened fire at a Minnesota health clinic, killing one staff member and wounding four others, previously threatened to carry out a mass shooting at the facility, according to a police report. Gregory Paul Ulrich, 67, was arrested in Tuesday's attack at an Allina clinic in Buffalo, a community of about 15,000 people roughly 40 miles northwest of Minneapolis. Ulrich has a long history of conflict with medical clinics in the area and had been unhappy with the care he had received, Buffalo Police Chief Pat Budke said. According to a police report, Ulrich threatened to carry out a mass shooting at the clinic in October 2018, with a doctor telling investigators that Ulrich had talked about "shooting, blowing things up, and practicing different scenarios of how to get revenge."

The doctor said Ulrich told him he dreamed about exacting revenge on the people who "tortured" him, referring to issues he had with back surgeries and the medication he was prescribed for them, the AP reports. Ulrich told police he had just been telling the doctor about his dreams and that he wouldn’t actually do anything, and police took him for a mental health evaluation at a facility in Monticello, the report says. Allina medical staff believed Ulrich might act on the threats and filed paperwork barring him from the company's property, which police delivered to his home the next month. Authorities initially said the victims were patients, but Allina said Wednesday that all five were employees. It's not clear whether the doctor who spoke to investigators was among them.

(More Minnesota stories.)

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