On January 8th, there was a fatal shooting that ended with the deaths of three people including the suspect. During that time, while law enforcement were securing the scene, Cloquet residents received a shelter-in-place order.

Folks living in the area were afraid for their safety in the short span of those three hours. Meanwhile others were concerned for the well-being of the friends, family, and neighbors.

Jacob Richardson, the Owner and Operator of B & B Market, said the situation was terrifying for his employees.

“No one really knew what was going on with the customers came in saying, ‘What’s going down at the bottom of the hill?’ We started getting ready to close. We got the text message saying there’s an active shooter, stay away,” Richardson said. “We were all panicking, because then we actually could hear the sound of the sirens.”

Derek Randall, the Chief of Police in Cloquet, said the shelter in place alert was necessary for their investigation. Also it was essential for the safety of Cloquet residents.

“I don’t recall in my 20 plus years here that we’ve ever issued a shelter in place alert. And again, that’s something that we take seriously,” Randall said. “We were just erring on the side of caution to make sure that people were staying away from the area and let the officers come in and do what they needed to do. As soon as we felt confident that the individual was no longer a threat and that we had secured the secured the scene, we lifted that.”

Many residents in the Cloquet area were left in a state of shock and fear after receiving the shelter in place alert. Austin Workman and Lexi Dymus were thankful for the quick response from Cloquet police and the other law enforcement agencies.

“I think our police force did a really good job,” Dymus said. “They got everything handled how they should have, and it was really fast and effective. Actually, one of the girls that is working graduated with [one of the victims]. Stuff like that hits close to home.”

Workman also said the shelter in place alert was something he never dealt with, and was concerned for his safety.

“I’ve never had experienced anything that crazy, honestly,” Workman said. “But really nothing really happens in our town. You never think something like this could happen so close to home.”

Micah Gagnon another Cloquet resident, said plenty of his friends were checking on his safety, since he was only a mile away from the shooting incident.

“If it can happen in Cloquet. It can happen anywhere for sure,” Gagnon said. “But it’s definitely scary to happen in this small town.”

Also for more information on the fatal shooting incident you can read more here. However, for more information about reporting any crimes you can look at the Cloquet police department’s website here.