Two heroes in courtroom shooting honored by Hennepin County Attorney

Posted: 4:32 pm Fri, November 30, 2012
By Barbara L. Jones

Molly Hicken, assistant Cook County Attorney, was honored at an event hosted by Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman last week. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)

A prosecutor who helped stop an armed gunman in a Cook County Courthouse last year and the defense attorney who tended to the gunshot wounds of an injured colleague were among those who received the Hennepin County Attorney’s Community Leadership Awards last week.

Daniel Schlienz opened fire in a courtroom in Grand Marais in December 2011 after being convicted of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. He wounded Cook County Attorney Tim Scannell, a court bailiff and a witness in the case.

During the chaos that followed, Assistant County Attorney Molly Hicken helped tackle and disarm Schlienz and then ran to summon help. John C. Lillie, III, a defense lawyer in the courtroom put a compress to Scannell’s stomach wound and a tourniquet to a leg wound, while waiting for medical help.

Both were honored by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for making Minnesota a safer place to live and work.