Who is Levi Axtell? Father Accused of Killing Sex Offender with Moose Antler

• Levi Axtell, 27, has been charged with second-degree intentional murder in the death of Lawrence V. Scully, 77.
• Axtell told law enforcement that he beat Scully to death with a shovel and a large moose antler.
• Scully was convicted in 1979 of sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl.
• Axtell accused Scully of stalking his 22-month-old daughter outside her day care in 2018.

A Minnesota man has been charged with beating to death an elderly man he accused of stalking his young daughter.

Levi Axtell, 27, was charged with second-degree intentional murder in the death of Lawrence V. Scully, who had previously been convicted of child sexual assault.

Scully, 77, was found dead at his home in Grand Marais, Minnesota, on Wednesday.

A criminal complaint filed on Friday said Axtell killed Scully by beating him with a shovel and a large moose antler, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

The complaint said that after the attack, an intoxicated Axtell drove to the Cook County Sheriff's office covered in blood.

He walked into the lobby, dropped to his knees and "put his hands on his head and said that he had murdered [Scully] with a shovel," it said.

A sheriff's deputy found Scully in his home "obviously dead from the serious nature of his head wounds," according to the charging document.

Axtell told law enforcement that he had hit Scully 15 to 20 times with a shovel and then "finished him off" with several further blows with the antler.

Axtell said he had known Scully for a long time "and believed him to have sexually offended against children in the past," the complaint read. He also said he had observed Scully in his vehicle at places where children were present, and believed he would reoffend.

Axtell alleged in 2018 that Scully was stalking his 22-month-old daughter and other children, watching them from his van that he parked near her Grand Marais daycare.

He sought an order of protection, which was granted temporarily but then dismissed within several weeks, according to the Tribune.

"He is a convicted pedophile, and him stalking and attempting to groom my daughter is completely inappropriate and needs to stop,"Axtell wrote in the request for the order.

Scully was convicted in Kanabec County, Minnesota, of sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl in 1979, according to Cook County Sheriff Pat Eliasen. He was released from prison in 1982.

Eliasen told the Tribune that there had been allegations against Scully, but an investigation "didn't reveal anything" and that most reports were regarding harassment.

Axtell's bail was set at $1 million at a video hearing on Friday.

His defense attorney Dennis Shaw noted that Axtell had no serious criminal history until now and that his ties to Grand Marais made him a minimal flight risk.

Axtell remains jailed in Cook County. His next court appearance is scheduled for April 10.

Newsweek has contacted Eliasen for further comment via email. Shaw could not immediately be reached for comment.