Body cam footage shows officers forcing their way into an Arizona home attempting to rescue a baby who had been shot multiple times in a domestic violence incident Friday.
“Get the baby! Get the baby!” an officer with the Surprise Police Department can be heard yelling repeatedly in the footage, AZ Family reported. Officers were eventually able to locate a wounded 7-month-old baby named Jaxson.
The incident began around 3:00 a.m. Friday when Todd Christopher Marchetti, 51, allegedly broke into the home and allegedly held his ex-girlfriend, Allie, and their son hostage for several hours, the outlet reported, citing the police.
Allie reportedly had to come up with several ruses during the incident, including taking a trip to the veterinarian after Marchetti shot the family dog, the outlet reported. She was unable to reach out for help at the vet’s office and worked to come up with another ruse. She reportedly convinced the 51-year-old to hire workers to fix the window damaged from when he allegedly broke into the home. She reportedly then approached nearby construction workers and asked them to call the police, AZ Family noted.
“I would like to first acknowledge the biggest hero of the day to me, which is Allie, Jackson’s mom,” Surprise Fire Chief Brenden Espie said at a news conference.”Her actions saved not only her life but the life of her son.”
In the body cam footage, gunshots can be heard from inside the home before officers were able to make their way inside. A child can be heard crying while police clear parts of the home.
One of the officers can be seen grabbing the baby and rushing him outside. A medic team was waiting outside and provided initial care before the infant was flown by helicopter to a local children’s hospital, AZ Family reported.
Marchetti reportedly refused to leave the home for several hours. None of the officers encountered Marchetti directly, the outlet reported. (RELATED: Bodycam Footage Appears To Show US Airman Fatally Shot By Police).
Around 3:00 p.m. Friday, the home became engulfed in flames. The cause of the fire is still unknown and police are unaware of where Marchetti was during the fire, the outlet noted.
A body believed to be Marchetti was discovered dead inside the home Saturday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, AZ Family reported.
The 7-month-old has since had at least three surgeries but is expected to survive, the outlet reported.
“He’s awake, he’ll open his eyes and we’ll rub his head, tell him we love him,” Jaxon’s grandfather, Michael Norman, told the outlet.
Norman said he and his wife were on a cruise at the time of the incident and added that Allie and Jaxon had been living with them since ending her relationship with Marchetti, the outlet reported.
“To watch your house on TV burning to the ground, I don’t even know how to explain that to people, what you’re thinking,” Norman told AZ Family. “If you’re a parent and somebody did that to them, I’m sure you would step in and wouldn’t let it go. And that’s what we did, we stepped in. And he was mad that we stepped in so he was going to punish us, and he did.”
