Man Unhappy With Care Shoots Five at Minn. Clinic

Star Tribune

A 67-year-old man upset with his health care shot and seriously wounded five people at a clinic Tuesday in Buffalo, Minn., in what authorities described as a "horrible-looking scene" where suspected explosives were also discovered.

Gregory Paul Ulrich, of Buffalo, was jailed after the 10:55 a.m. shooting at Allina Health Clinic in Buffalo on Crossroads Campus Drive. Police said they've had "multiple contacts" with Ulrich dating to 2003. He had a history of being unhappy with health care he had received, said Buffalo Police Chief Pat Budke.

"The history we have with this individual makes it most likely that this incident was targeted at that facility or someone in that facility," Budke said. "Because of that previous contact with him, this was an isolated incident or only directed at people within (the clinic)."

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 Zanstra, 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.

Zanstra, 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."

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."

Police on Tuesday found suspicious devices both in the clinic and the nearby Super 8 Motel, where Ulrich was staying. It's unclear whether any of them detonated.

Court records show that Ulrich's last address was at a Buffalo trailer park that authorities had sealed off as they executed a search warrant. His criminal history includes three drunken driving convictions.

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."

Sheriff Sean Deringer said that once Ulrich was arrested Tuesday and the threat was over, responding officers rushed to the aid of the wounded. "It was a horrible-looking scene," Deringer said.

A female with three gunshot wounds was taken by air ambulance to North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale, emergency medical personnel were heard saying on dispatch audio.

Three others were being treated at North Memorial and one other at HCMC in Minneapolis, an Allina official said. Conditions of all five remained undisclosed as of midafternoon Tuesday.

The initial Sheriff's Office dispatch reports indicated that multiple people called 911 about an "older white male" in the clinic with a handgun.

One dispatcher said his partner was on the phone with the suspect doing the shooting. "He is saying that there are bombs inside," the dispatcher is heard saying. "He is telling law enforcement to back off."

The man let a woman out of the clinic, but authorities were "not sure about other hostages," the audio continued.

The suspect was in the front vestibule while "saying that he does want to surrender now. ... The male is going to stay in place, he is laying on his stomach … The male is saying the gun is inside the building somewhere."

As word of a possible explosion spread, one officer on the scene said, "We see evidence of that; west glass shattered all across."

Police Chief Budke said "there may have been (an explosion) before" the shooting.

The audio illustrated a frantic scene as victims streamed outside the hospital as officers rushed to evacuate them.

"I've got four or five with gunshots back here," an officer said, adding that at least three of the victims were women, with one shot in the abdomen and another in the spinal cord, according to the audio. "Send as many ambulances as you can."

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?"

Rohde said Ulrich carried a heavy backpack around town with him, and was often seen walking because he didn't have a car. Rohde said his neighbor was unemployed, living on disability.

"This whole summer it would just be, 'How's it going?' and be chatty," Rohde said of his neighbor.

Ulrich has lived in the mobile home park for several years, but recently put his trailer up for sale, said Rohde. He had a roommate maybe a year ago, but that person moved out, said Rohde.

Rohde said Ulrich never complained about health care, doctors or anything related to his health. He seemed to have back trouble of some kind, but otherwise seemed healthy, said Rohde.

Neighbor Bob Taylor said Ulrich was not well-liked in the trailer park where everyone knew everyone.

"He was creepy, give you dirty looks, he was always down fishing at the lake down there, and he'd take the guts and stuff afterward and take it all down to the lake and dump it in the water again."

Taylor said Ulrich had lived in the trailer park at least 10 years. He frequently drank and smoked marijuana. He socialized with a handful of people but didn't have a lot of friends.

"He had a blank stare all the time," Taylor said. "He didn't fit in."

Star Tribune staff writers Matt McKinney, Libor Jany and Randy Furst contributed to this report.