Mpls. man accused of killing his 4-month-old is mentally ill, his mother says

A 21-year-old father jailed on suspicion of fatally assaulting his 4-month-old daughter in the family's Franklin Avenue home over the weekend appeared "out of it" while outside the Minneapolis duplex on the day of his arrest, a neighbor said Sunday.

The girl was found dead Saturday night in the upper level of the duplex near Prospect Park in Minneapolis, police said. Her father was arrested and remained jailed Sunday on suspicion of murder. The Star Tribune generally does not identify crime suspects before they are charged.

Police responded to an emergency medical call in the 1900 block of Franklin Avenue SE., where the baby was found. She was pronounced dead at Hennepin County Medical Center. The county medical examiner will release the girl's identity after an autopsy.

No one else but the suspect was in the home, police said. It was not clear who made the emergency call or what type of injuries the baby suffered.

The suspect's mother, who said he grew up in Oakdale, described her son as "very ill."

She said his family has "been trying to get him into some mental health treatment" without success.

Her son has been helping the baby's mother look after her granddaughter, whom she called Emme.

Brittney Thomson, whose apartment building backs up to one side of the duplex, said she saw the father out with his two dogs earlier in the day.

"He seemed high" when he let the dogs out, said Thomson, who did not see the baby Saturday. "He wasn't paying attention to the dogs [as they ran around off their leashes], and he seemed out of it. He was wandering aimlessly and then standing."

Thomson said the mother's car was gone by Saturday morning. Police said the father was home alone with the baby. A source close to the case said the mother was at work.

Medical personnel and firefighters were the first responders to arrive, showing up at the home about 5 p.m.

"A paramedic carried [the baby] out by the armpits," Thomson said. "Originally, I thought it was a doll."

That's when police arrived and arrested and cuffed the compliant young man, she said.

Thomson, who has lived next to the duplex for two years, said the father "didn't look as healthy as he once did … about a year before."

The killing was the fourth homicide of the week in Minneapolis and the 22nd of the year.

"In a perfect world, there would be no crime," officer Corey Schmidt, a police spokesman, told reporters at the scene Saturday night. "We are going to investigate this like every other case."

Star Tribune staff writer Liz Sawyer contributed to this report.