Levi Axtell, 27, walked into at the sheriff’s office covered in blood and with his head in his hands as he admitted killing Lawrence Scully – who was jailed for molesting a six-year-old girl in 1979. 

Axtell, from Cook County, Minnesota, had long been suspicious of Scully parking his vehicle at locations where children were present.  A criminal complaint states Axtell entered Scully’s home at around 4.45pm and struck him 15-20 times with a shovel he had found on the victim’s deck. Axtell told officers he finished the job with a large moose antler, according to the complaint. “Defendant said he had known (Scully) for a long time, and believed him to have sexually offended against children in the past,’ it states. ‘Defendant said he had observed (Scully) parked in his vehicle at locations where children were present and believed he would re-offend.’

A Cook County sheriff’s deputy entered the property around 5pm on Wednesday and found Scully with ‘major head trauma and surrounded by blood,’ adding he was ‘obviously dead.’ The father had walked into the police station covered in blood and with his head in his hands as he confessed to the killing.  A medical examiner noted that Scully had defensive wounds to his arms. A neighbor called 911 to also report the incident after watching a van pull up at Scully’s residence and smash a vehicle before running home. The witness added he heard screaming.

On Saturday a woman believed to be Axtell’s sister said she had received lots of support from the local community and the family were planning to set up an online fundraiser to help with the case. ‘I am overwhelmed by the amount of support I am seeing online right now in light of Wednesday’s tragedy,’ Katrina Axtell wrote on Facebook.