Officers responded to 911 calls in St. Paul about a domestic disturbance early Wednesday and discovered an unresponsive woman in an apartment, along with a man and a 2-year-old boy.

Paramedics also went to the Merriam Park area, but “unfortunately, there was nothing they could do to save her life” and she was pronounced dead, said Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesman.

After being called to the apartment on Pierce Street near St. Anthony Avenue just after midnight, police detained a 23-year-old man, Terrion Lamar Sherman, and made sure the child was safe. Both were brought to hospitals for evaluation.

Linders said he did not believe the boy had serious injuries. He did not have information about whether the child witnessed what happened. Police will be working with experts who specialize in interviewing children to find out more, according to Linders.

When Sherman, of St. Paul, was medically cleared, he was brought to police headquarters and questioned by homicide investigators, Linders said. He was arrested on suspicion of murder.

Police are investigating what happened and gathering information about how the woman died; her name has not been released. The people in the apartment — near Interstate 94 and Snelling Avenue — were known to each and investigators are determining the exact nature of their relationship, Linders said.

“Domestic violence in and of itself is disturbing,” Linders said. “When you add a 2-year-old child into the situation, along with a woman who’s gravely injured, that type of scene can take a toll on our officers because they’re human beings and they care about people.”

SUSPECT RECENTLY CIVILLY COMMITTED

Sherman was civilly committed last Thursday for mental illness and chemical dependency issues, according to Ramsey County District Court records.

The commitment order states he suffers from “an organic disorder of the brain or a substantial psychiatric disorder … which grossly impairs judgement, behavior, capacity to recognize reality or to reason or understand, … ( and is) manifested by instances of grossly disturbing behavior or faulty perceptions and poses a substantial likelihood of physical harm to self or others.”

The order, which was a re-commitment as Sherman had been previously civilly committed in 2019, did not require that Sherman be held in a secure hospital, but instead connected him with various services provided by county management services, according to staff in the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office.

Sherman also has pending criminal cases against him, including one for first-degree aggravated robbery and a second for fourth-degree assault of a peace officer.

In the former, he is accused of punching an employee at a Family Dollar store in Maplewood in August of 2018 who tried to stop him from stealing, court records say.

In the latter, he reportedly lit a shoe on fire on a neighbor’s patio and then spit at a police officer, charges say.

The resident who reported the incident told police that Sherman is a “K2 user who frequently causes problems in the neighborhood,” the complaint said. K2 is a synthetic form of marijuana.

That incident also took place in August of 2018.