Metro-Wide Phone Alert Prompted By 17-Year-Old Killing Grandma: Police

ROSEVILLE, MN — A 17-year-old boy killed his grandmother and seriously injured his mother and sibling in Roseville on Tuesday, according to police. Two other siblings suffered minor injuries, authorities said.

The grandmother was killed by a sharp and blunt force, according to the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office's preliminary investigation.

The incident Tuesday prompted Ramsey County to issue a shelter-in-place alert to cell phones in a small part of Roseville. However, the alert was mistakenly sent to phones across the Twin Cities metro area.

The county is unsure how the mistake happened.

Authorities say they are still investigating a motive in the killing. "Prior to this incident, there have been no police-related calls to the residence and no documented police contacts with the 17-year-old suspect," Roseville police said in a news release.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office will make a decision on criminal charges.

Just after 10:20 a.m., Roseville officers responded to a report of an assault in progress on the 1100 Block of Ryan Avenue West.

A caller from inside the house said a 17-year-old family member attacked others in the house before fleeing on foot, according to police. Roseville officers set up a perimeter around the home.

A person who received the shelter-in-place alert called 911 to report a juvenile male without shoes running westbound toward the State Fairgrounds, authorities said.

There were six people inside the home at the time of the attack, including the teen, his three adult siblings, his mother, and his grandmother, according to police

The grandmother who died was identified as 88-year-old Patricia Frances Maslow.

The teen's 55-year-old mother is still hospitalized due to "trauma caused by blunt force," police said. The teen's 23-year-old sibling was treated at the hospital for head trauma caused by blunt force and has been released, according to authorities.

Two other siblings were treated for minor injuries and released at the scene, police said