One dead, four wounded in shooting at Minnesota health clinic; 67-year-old suspect jailed

MINNEAPOLIS – A 67-year-old man upset with his health care shot and killed one person and wounded four others at a clinic Tuesday in Buffalo, Minnesota, in what authorities described as a “horrible-looking scene” where suspected explosives were also discovered.

One of the five victims was taken to HCMC in Minneapolis, where the person died, a spokesperson said Tuesday evening. The others were taken to North Memorial Health Hospital, where three remained in critical but stable condition and a fourth was discharged.

Gregory Paul Ulrich, of Buffalo, was jailed after the 10:55 a.m. shooting at Allina Health Clinic in Buffalo. 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 the 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.