A 14-year-old girl has been arrested and accused of having a role in the death of her 1-year-old sister last summer while babysitting the child at a homeless shelter in downtown Minneapolis, officials said.
The child stopped breathing Aug. 23 at the People Serving People site at Portland Avenue and S. 3rd Street and died the next day at HCMC, according to court records.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office on Monday identified the child as Emoni McGrone, but said it had yet to determine the cause or manner of the toddler's death. Emoni was the youngest of 82 homicide victims in Minneapolis in 2022, according to a Star Tribune database.
A police report said the teenager was arrested on Sept. 2 and charged by complaint, which is known as a petition in juvenile court. The report classified the "weapon type" involved in Emoni's undisclosed injuries as any combination of hands, fists or feet.
The juvenile suspect "was arrested in connection with this death, and the case is being handled in juvenile court," said Nicholas Kimball, spokesman for the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, on Friday.
He added that no additional information would be made public, including the 14-year-old's name. Minnesota juvenile criminal court records are only accessible to the public if the offense is a felony and the youth is at least 16 years old.
Police searched the family's apartment the night of Emoni's death. According to a search warrant affidavit approved by the court, they seized two bags of "suspected narcotics," a mattress cover and bedsheets, a pillow and liquid in a bottle from a bed.
According to the affidavit:
Police received a call at 9:05 p.m. about a baby not breathing in one of the shelter's apartments. When the call came in, the 14-year-old had been caring for her little sister "for a short period of time," and the teen asked a neighbor to call 911.
Emergency medical responders initiated lifesaving efforts before Emoni was taken to HCMC, where she died the following day.
Staff writers Liz Sawyer and Jeff Hargarten contributed to this report.
