Man charged with threatening violence against St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, Maplewood Mall

A man with a history of mental illness was charged Wednesday with threatening violence against St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and Maplewood Mall.

Andrew T. Grzywinski, 35, of St. Paul was charged in Ramsey County District Court with two counts of threats of violence after Tuesday's alleged threats.

Grzywinski remained jailed in lieu of $100,000 bail and was scheduled to appear in court Thursday. Court records did not list an attorney for him.

According to the charges:

Grzywinski sent a former girlfriend a text showing an assault-style gun on a window ledge, with a message that read, "Maplewood Mall is my idea, and Mayor of St. Paul is an end goal."

The woman alerted Woodbury police because Grzywinski was staying at a hotel in that city. They, in turn, notified police in Maplewood and St. Paul.

A Woodbury police investigator said Grzywinski had been hospitalized Dec. 15-22 in Pensacola, Fla., "on a mental health hold." A doctor there said Grzywinski's threats should be taken seriously.

In addition, Maplewood police sent a six-squad security detail to the mall, which closed at 6:15 p.m. as a precaution instead of its usual 8 p.m.

Officers arrested Grzywinski at the hotel, where they seized in his room a .22-caliber rifle, the same one shown in the text, and a magazine loaded with ammunition.

While in custody at St. Paul police headquarters, Grzywinski ripped a camera off a wall in an interview room and demanded to have a lawyer.

At the Ramsey County jail, he asked a staff member what he was being booked for and was told that he had threatened violence against Carter. Grzywinski replied, "I never said I was gonna kill the mayor. I said I want to run for mayor."