The harrowing bomb scene which led to 1 dead and several injured at a Minnesota medical clinic did not have its genesis in some sort of terrorist act at the hands of the perpetrator. The 67 year-old suspect, later detained by police, left a trail of angst directed not at society at large, but at the clinic at which he received medical care.

Authorities are confident that Ulrich acted alone. He is expected to appear in court Thursday morning after charges are filed along with further specifics about the shooting and his motive likely to be disclosed.

Raymond Zandstra, who rented a room from [suspect, Paul] Ulrich for about 18 months until July, said he was not surprised when he heard law enforcement on television reveal who was in jail.

Zandstra, who now lives in Maple Lake, said Ulrich has been upset that a doctor “wouldn’t give him high doses of painkillers. There would be a month’s worth of painkiller, and he’d have that gone in a week and a half. He’d get a buzz on them.”

He wasn’t without a criminal history.

He had a pending case for minor drug possession; his most recent appearance was on Feb. 5. The records show that an earlier case, in which he was accused of violating a harassment order, was dismissed after he was found mentally unfit to go to trial. An official wrote that Ulrich had previously applied for a permit to purchase a firearm, but was denied. In a presentence report written on the harassment violation order case, a court official argued that it was “highly recommended that (Ulrich) not be allowed to have use or possession of any dangerous weapons or firearms as a condition of his probation.”

Buffalo resident Walter Rohde said he was shocked to hear that his neighbor was the man who shot several people at the Allina clinic on Tuesday. “I just knew him as a kindly old man,” said Rohde, who lives just a few doors down from Ulrich in the same trailer park. “He liked to drink, I can tell you that much.”

Rohde said Ulrich helped him build a shed over the summer, and would often come over to sit at his fire ring in the evenings to chat. “From what I know, a kind old man, retired. And to hear that he was a suspect, what the hell?”

Now, those who knew him are trying to make sense of it all.

Raymond Zandstra, who rented a room from Ulrich for about 18 months until July, said he was not surprised when he heard law enforcement on television reveal who was in jail.

Zandstra, who now lives in Maple Lake, said Ulrich has been upset that a doctor “wouldn’t give him high doses of painkillers. There would be a month’s worth of painkiller, and he’d have that gone in a week and a half. He’d get a buzz on them.”

Urlich was so irate that he put the physician’s name on a sign calling the doctor “a crook and just no good,” and attached it to the mobile home’s shed “facing the main road going to the hospital so everybody could see it.”

Was this an extreme example of the type of patient dependent on chronic opioid therapy, or a man who simply reached a breaking point in a society within which he existed but increasingly feared?

In a (somewhat) disturbing trend in this country – the wealthiest in the world – shoplifting for food is occurring in the wake of depleted food shelves, financial hardship in the face of congressional stonwalling on a new stimulus, and a protracted surge in positive coronavirus cases.

Shoplifting is up markedly since the pandemic began in the spring and at higher levels than in past economic downturns, according to interviews with more than a dozen retailers, security experts and police departments across the country. … But what’s distinctive about this trend, experts say, is what’s being taken — more staples like bread, pasta and baby formula.

Lying liars and the lies they tell.

Minneapolis police initially told the public that George Floyd died after a ‘medical incident during a police interaction.’ The Buffalo, New York, department said a protester ‘tripped and fell.’ Philadelphia police alleged that a college student who suffered a serious head wound had assaulted an officer.

All three claims were quickly disproved by videos seen widely on the internet and television, fueling mistrust and embarrassing agencies that made misleading or incomplete statements that painted their actions in a far more favorable light.

Is it any wonder why many Twin Cities organizations ended contractural relationships with the MPD? Reform is often bandied about during this particularly inflammatory period in this nation’s modern history. Personally, I don’t know how any meaningful reform can germinate without the foundation and pillar of trust. Right now, the MPD is Public Enemy #1, and it’s gonna take some time to right that wrong.

George Floyd, the unarmed black man murdered by a Minneapolis cop, lay in the ambulance, pulseless, an FD report states. The report should come as no surprise, as that’s how the victim appeared just before he was placed on the stretcher.

The crew found an off-duty firefighter who reported witnessing the end of the struggle and watched as the patient turned unresponsive in police custody. Dispatch notified the responders that medics needed assistance and they relocated a few blocks away to meet up with the ambulance.

Making the rounds on social media are photos/videos of one of the Minneapolis cops fired for the most recent episode of police brutality against an African-American male. Several pictures appear to be of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on stage with President Trump. USA Today formally reports Chauvin is the officer in a viral video kneeling on the neck of a black man and ignoring his pleas for help until the man was put, unresponsive, on a stretcher. (The Minneapolis paper [Star Tribune] reported this fact yesterday.)

The man later died.

Canadian PM Trudeau announces assault weapon ban, in response to the recent Nova Scotia mass shootings.

[R]ather than instituting a promised program that would require owners to surrender their guns in exchange for government compensation to remove them from civilian circulation, the government said on Friday the program will be voluntary. Current owners will be allowed to keep their guns beyond a two-year amnesty period.

Groups on both sides of the rancorous gun debate expressed dismay over the new measures.

“A partial buyback would be just one more disappointment in our 30-year battle for gun control,” said Nathalie Provost, who was struck four times in the 1989 École Polytechnique shooting and is a spokeswoman for the gun-control advocacy group Poly Remembers. “This could mean that tens of thousands of assault weapons will remain in the hands of their current owners, for generations.”

Gun enthusiasts, meanwhile, are “enraged and infuriated” and promising legal challenges, said Tony Bernardo, executive director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association.

I’m beginning to wonder why the practice of chiropractic is so replete with corruption.

A Twin Cities personal injury attorney admitted in federal court Monday to participating in a scheme to defraud auto insurance companies through bogus health care claims.

William Kyle Sutor III, a 37-year-old St. Louis Park lawyer, told U.S. Judge Nancy Brasel the scheme started with “runners” who brought him clients who had been victims of car accidents. The clients all had no-fault insurance policies, which, under Minnesota law, must provide a minimum of $20,000 medical benefit expenses.

On three separate occasions, Sutor worked with two chiropractors, unnamed in court documents, also in on the scheme. Sutor paid the runners $300 per client, and chiropractors paid between $1,000 and $1,500, Sutor said.