Roseville parents were warned before toddler fell to death from balcony: Charges

ROSEVILLE, Minn. (FOX 9) - A pair of Roseville parents are facing criminal charges after their child died from a two-story fall despite warnings from property management about the child hanging out the balcony window. 

The mother, Aisha Ali, 30, and the father, Hanad Hassan Jama, 35, both Roseville residents, are charged with manslaughter for the death of their 15-month-old girl. 

Roseville child death charges 

Police response:

Police say they responded to an apartment building on Lexington Avenue North in Roseville just before 2 p.m. on July 6 after getting reports of a young child fell from an upper-floor balcony.

Officers then found a 15-month-old girl lying on the driveway with severe injuries. 

Police say they observed a balcony two stories directly above the child that had vertical metal bars with gaps in between them. That balcony also had a sliding glass door that was partially open and a screen door that was off the track with a large tear in the screen. 

The criminal complaint states that as medics were treating the 15-month-old girl, another young child came from the apartment and "crawled through the safety bars, held onto the outside, and watched the activity below." Officers then yelled for the child to go back inside before a woman retrieved the child from the open door and went back into the apartment. 

Police then went to the apartment, where they met 30-year-old Aisha Ali, the woman they had seen earlier. She was with the 30-month-old child police officers saw on the balcony and a 5-month-old boy. 

The father, Hanad Hassan Jama, 35, arrived after Aisha called him. 

The child then died at the hospital the next day, with the cause of death determined to be multiple traumatic injuries sustained in the fall. 

Investigation:

Police spoke to the apartment's property management, who said they warned the parents about the danger when they saw the children hanging out of the balcony back in 2024. 

The neighbor who called 911 also said the sliding door and screen had been broken for several months. 

During an interview with a child protection investigator, Ali said she had been watching TV while preparing to take a shower, contradicting her previous statement to police that she was in the process of showering. When asked about this discrepancy, Ali said she was confused and distraught. Officers also found that the shower was completely dry, according to the complaint.  

Jama reportedly told investigators that he went home in between rides and made the kids lunch, during which Ali went into the bedroom. He said he called out that he was leaving, but he wasn't sure that she heard him. He then called Ali when he saw emergency vehicles near the apartment. 

Jama also disputed the statements made by the maintenance employee and the other resident, claiming that the reports about the children hanging out of the balcony unsupervised were not true. He also claimed that they requested to have the screen door fixed, but police say there are no records of such requests.