Levi William Axtell turned himself in to police on Wednesday, saying he had beaten a 77-year-old man to death because he believed the man was “sexually offending” children.
Axtell, a 27-year-old father, alleged that the old man had “stalked” his 22-month-old daughter, NBC News reports.
According to a criminal complaint filed by the Cook County Sheriff’s Office in Minnesota, Axtell used a moose antler and a shovel to fatally strike the man after he broke into his Grand Marais home. He then drove to the police station and turned himself in.
Axtell claimed that he found the shovel on the victim’s deck and proceeded to hit the man 20 times in the head, then “finished him off” with a moose horn.
A witness told the Sheriff’s Office that they saw a male drive into the victim’s driveway around 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, crash into a vehicle, and enter the residence. They said they heard “screaming” coming from inside the house and shortly after saw the man walk away from the scene.
When Axtell turned himself in at the police station, he entered covered in blood and with his hands on his head. He told police that he had known the victim for a long time and that he “believed that he had sexually abused children in the past,” the complaint states.
The victim’s body was found in his home, with the bloody shovel next to it. Preliminary medical evidence showed that the 77-year-old man had died from blunt force injuries to the head.
Cook County Sheriff Pat Eliasen said in the statement that Axtell and the victim had “experienced some conflict in the past” but that law enforcement has yet to fully investigate Axtell’s claims.
the victim was arrested in 1979 for sexually abusing a 6-year-old girl and spent two years in jail, according to the Cook County Herald.
Authorities charged Axtell with second-degree murder. As of now, no attorney information is available.
