Brooklyn Park police investigating death of 1-year-old

Brooklyn Park police are investigating the death of a 1-year-old girl whom a caregiver drove to a Wal-Mart after the child became unresponsive last week, according to a search warrant made available Monday.

Shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday, police and emergency medical responders were called to the Wal-Mart at 9451 Dunkirk Lane N. in Maple Grove on a report of an unresponsive child. The baby was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

"It's a little weird, and we're trying to sort it out. … Our goal is trying to figure out what happened to this little girl," said Brooklyn Park Police Deputy Chief Mark Bruley.

The 21-year-old man who brought the baby to the store told police that he was caring for her at her mother's apartment in the 8500 block of 63rd Avenue N. in Brooklyn Park while the baby's mother was at work.

The man said that he gave the girl a bath and left the room to get a diaper and that when he returned, he found the baby unresponsive. He said he tried to provide CPR to the girl, but when that failed, he took the child to Wal-Mart, where the baby's mother worked, he said.

No charges have been filed in the case. In the search warrant application, a Brooklyn Park police detective asked to be able to photograph the interior of the apartment and look for possible evidence in the child's death.

No arrests have been made in the case, Bruley said. Final autopsy results will take weeks, he said. The man who was caring for the girl is not her father, Bruley said.

A neighbor told investigators that the residents of the apartment argued and fought a lot and that the night before, something had made a loud thumping noise in the apartment.

Early last month, police were called to the apartment for a domestic dispute between the man and the girl's mother. The man was later arrested on suspicion of assaulting the woman.

He previously has been convicted of fourth-degree assault and of violating a domestic-abuse no-contact order.

Nicole Norfleet • 612-673-4495

Twitter: @nicolenorfleet