Roseville Parents Charged After Toddler’s Fatal Fall From Balcony

Oct 3

*The apartment building where a toddler died earlier this year.* ***MN CRIME PHOTO***

Both parents of a 15-month-old girl are charged with manslaughter after the child fell from a third-floor balcony at a Roseville apartment building in July and later died.

Police were called on July 6 to an apartment building on the 2700 block of Lexington Avenue North, where the toddler was found unresponsive outside the garage with a severe head wound.

Medics rushed her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead the next day.

Officers noted the balcony door above was partially open, with the screen torn and off its track. As medics worked on the girl, officers looked up and saw another toddler squeeze through the balcony bars. Officers shouted until the child retreated back inside the apartment.

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Investigators later determined the balcony screen had been broken for months. A maintenance worker told police he had personally seen the children hanging out of the balcony at least three times in the past year. Property management records included repeated calls and in-person visits to the parents in 2024, warning them of the danger. In one call to the father, staff said, “You have two small children that are… hanging outside of the window above the garage… I don’t want anything to happen to them.” A later call to the mother included, “This isn’t the first time… please make sure this doesn’t happen.” A photo taken during one earlier incident showed a toddler standing on the balcony alone.

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The child’s father, 32-year-old Hanad Hassan Jama, told police the screen door had been broken for a long time and acknowledged they had been warned repeatedly by management. He said he was home when the fall happened, heard noise, and then found his daughter unresponsive on the ground below.

The girl’s mother, Aisha Ali, 30, initially told officers she had been in the shower and believed Jama was watching the children. Officers, however, noted the shower was dry. In a later interview, Ali admitted she had been mistaken and said she thought Jama had already left for work.

Both Ali and Jama are charged in Ramsey County with two counts of second-degree manslaughter: culpable negligence and child neglect or endangerment. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. They are expected to make initial court appearances in November.

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