Deputies: Man confessed to using shovel, moose antler to murder Grand Marais man

GRAND MARAIS, MN. (Northern News Now) - A 27-year-old man is charged with killing a man with a shovel and a moose antler in Grand Marais.

According to court documents, at 4:48 p.m. on Wednesday, March 8, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a citizen reporting she had just watched someone in a white Dodge Caravan pull into the driveway of the Grand Marais home of a 77-year-old Lawrence Scully. He then smashed into a vehicle and ran into the house.

The citizen heard screaming coming from the house.

While on the call about a minute later, the caller told dispatch that the driver of the van was leaving toward the Law Enforcement Center (LEC), which is approximately three blocks from the Scully’s home.

Court documents say shortly after, the Caravan pulled into the parking lot in front of the LEC.

A man got out and walked into the lobby covered in blood.

Levi William Axtell, 27, put his hands on his head and said he had murdered the victim with a shovel.

At 5 p.m. a deputy observed Scully lying in his home with major head trauma and surrounded by blood.

The bloody shovel was also laying nearby.

Deputies said that Scully appeared obviously dead from the serious head wounds.

Axtell was arrested immediately on suspicion of murder.

After being told his Miranda rights on Thursday he admitted to entering the victim’s home and hitting him over the head 15 to 20 times with a spade-style shovel he found on the deck of the home.

Axtell then, to make sure Scully was dead, “finished him off” by hitting his head several times with a large moose antler.

In addition, he said he had known Scully for a long time and believed he sexually offended children in the past.

Axtell said he had observed the victim parked in his vehicle where children were present and he believed he would re-offend.

A preliminary report from the medical examiner stated the cause of death was “blunt force head injuries” but he also had wounds on his arms that are consistent with defensive wounds.