Sister of Man Killed in Cloquet Hotel Shooting Remembers Her Brother
DULUTH, Minn. — The Cloquet Police Department released the names of the two victims who were shot and killed Monday at the Super 8. One of those victims is Patrick Roers, 35, of Deer River.
His sister, Ellen, said Patrick was known to his sisters and brothers as Bubba because he weighed nearly 10 pounds when he was born and was always smiling and laughing. “The biggest thing about Patrick is he would light up a room, you know, he just was good to a stranger has just his smile. I can hear his voice. I can picture a smile. Even his walk,” Ellen said.
Since he was young Patrick would say, “I wanna drive a dump truck.” And he did. He had started a new job with Utilitree just days before his death. He was in Cloquet to trim trees near powerlines, according to his family.
The company’s owner, Chris Storlie, thought very highly of Patrick and told his sister about why he’d been hired. “He just shared how much he loved Patrick, and he said, we had a lot of folks interviewing for this. And he said the biggest thing about him and he brought it down to it’s like his personality really got the job, his attitude, his charisma, the connection he felt with him,” Ellen said.
His boss has set up a GoFundMe account to help the family.
Ellen explained how she will remember her baby brother. “He’s just so, his presence is just so easy to be around. So he’s very easy to be around. He’s just loving. He just embodies what I think all of us sending the message, if I could say to remember him by is just the love and care that he brings to people just by being him. He’s very authentic. He doesn’t, you know, try to be somebody who’s not and he’s just easy because he’s so loving and wonderful.”
Ellen went on to say, “The one thing with Patrick is we had a special bond because he was the last single one left. He wanted to be a husband and a father, he would have been a great dad.”
While the family is still grieving and trying to come to terms with Patrick’s death, Ellen is finding a small bit of good in all the darkness.
“I know he died happy. He would have been in his truck doing what he loves the best. My philosophy is everything happens for a reason. So if I can focus on the good, even though what’s good when you lose the love of your family’s life, your little baby brother, and my parents losing a child doesn’t feel like there’s a lot of good, but I think what we’re seeing is how many come together in the community to be, you know, lifting us up in a bad time and to show love and support,” Ellen said.
Meanwhile, the other victim in this case is Shellby Trettel, 22, of Cloquet. Click here for her story.
