Schlienz charged with premeditated attempted murder.

Daniel Schlienz, 42, of Grand Marais, was charged today in St. Louis County District Court with two counts of premeditated attempted first-degree murder. The charges were made by the Minnesota Attorney General’s office.

Additionally, Schlienz was charged with one count of assault in the 4th degree, one count of possession of a dangerous weapon with ammunition within a courthouse, one count of resisting arrest and one count of possession of a weapon by a felon.

"The shooting of a prosecutor and trial witness inside a courthouse strikes at the foundation of the pillars of justice," Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson said in a statement released with news of the charges. The attorney general's office is prosecuting Schlienz at the request of the Cook County attorney.

Schlienz is accused of shooting Cook County Attorney Timothy Scannell, 45, and Gregory Thompson, 45. Thompson was subpoenaed as a witness at Schlienz's trial on charges of criminal sexual conduct. Schlienz had been found guilty by a jury minutes before the shootings.