Ramsey County Unsure Why Homicide Suspect Alert Was Sent Metro-Wide

RAMSEY COUNTY, MN — Ramsey County officials apologized and said they're not sure why a shelter-in-place alert meant for a small part of Roseville ended up going to phones across the Twin Cities metro.

"Ramsey County deeply apologizes for the confusion and disruption this morning’s alerts caused throughout the metro region," the county said in a news release.

"Ramsey County will continue to investigate this issue in the days ahead to identify the cause of the issue and prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future."

The message was sent Tuesday morning by Ramsey County staff using the FCC Wireless Emergency Alert system.

"Shelter in place — Homicide suspect at large," read the phone alert sent at about 10:50 a.m. The suspect was described as a 17-year-old white male.

However, authorities say that "for reasons not known at this time," the FCC Wireless Emergency Alert system sent the alert to phones across Ramsey County, Dakota County, Hennepin County, and Washington County.

A second alert sent at about 11:15 a.m. said the shelter-in-place was "for Roseville area only. Area Hwy 36/Snelling to Larpenteure/Victoria."

At about 11:30 a.m., a third alert was sent metro-wide, announcing that the homicide suspect had been found and arrested.