SURPRISE, Ariz. — It's been six months since a hostage situation unfolded in Surprise which ended with the dramatic rescue of an infant and the home bursting into flames.
Todd Marchetti held the mother of his child, Allie, and their infant boy, Jaxson, hostage for several hours on May 17.
Marchetti shot their dog. Allie was ultimately able to convince Marchetti to allow her to go find workers to fix a window Marchetti had broken when he broke into the home. As soon as she was out, she found help and called 911.
'Training just takes over'
Surprise Police Department Officer Vega-Reid and Officer Scott vividly remember the details of that day.
"I had just gotten in. We work right here next door to where we're at and logged on the computer and then listening to the radio, I started hearing what began to unfold as a hostage situation," Scott recalled. "Then as it started to unfold, I realized this is a potential call that we would start self-deploying out to."
Vega-Reid and Scott are assigned to Surprise PD's SWAT team.
"I was attending a demonstration for some robots that we use. I had my SWAT medic with me. We were both looking at this robot, seeing if it was something that would be interested in purchasing. When all that information started getting kicked out, and as soon as we heard that this, the validity of the potential hostage nature of this situation, is when we self-deployed and I had my medic with me," Vega-Reid said.
The first responding officers at the scene heard multiple gunshots ring out from inside the home. Some shots were fired through the front door of the home, the same front door Vega-Reid, Scott and their team would soon be standing in front of.
“Once we were able to verify that mom was out of the house, she gave us information that she had last seen her baby inside and we verified that that was the last place that she had seen him, (that's) when we decided that, hey, this is actually a hostage situation," Vega-Reid. "It's not just a barricade with just the suspect inside and we need to start moving towards a crisis entry.”
'I heard the cry'
Vega-Reid was the first officer through the bullet-riddled front door.
“I remember it pretty vividly. So once that that door got opened, and me and him were the first at that door to go inside, it's difficult to explain because as soon as that door opens, the first thing I'm expecting is to be shot at," Vega-Reid said.
The officers put their lives on the line to save another. They stormed into the home with guns drawn searching for the baby and expecting to see the armed suspect at any moment.
“All you really think about is like, this is what we've been training for. This is our Super Bowl and training just takes over," Vega-Reid said.
The officers went room by room in their search.
“This is a little bit different than our typical training. When we train hostage rescue, it's usually two adults or multiple adults. So to now throw a factor of a baby in there? Now we're looking for smaller objects, smaller, tighter areas to try to find a baby and a bad guy at the same time. It becomes difficult, but every time you turn a corner and that guy was not there, it was a surprise, but you're ready for that moment, for him to be there. And just like, nope, wasn't there. Wasn't there," Scott described.
Then, a miracle. A baby started crying out.
“When I entered the room, I didn't see anything at that point in time but as I'm pushing deeper into the room, I heard the cry and the guys behind me, that's when I hear, 'Get the baby! Get the baby!'" Scott said. "Let's get that kid and we're moving out. There's no need to continue any further. So priority one, hostage rescue is done. So we're moving out. So a sense of relief. Huge sense of relief.”
Baby Jaxson had been shot but he survived and was saved.
“The outcome that we had is the absolute best-case scenario. And a lot of that doesn't have to do with what we did. A lot of that's something else that intervened," Vega-Reid said.
The house would ultimately go up in flames and the suspect was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police say he died from smoke inhalation.
“The only closure that I needed is that baby Jaxson survived," Vega-Reid said.
“The fact is, the kid is here, and that's the most important part of the whole situation," Scott said.
In the months after the rescue, the officers were able to reunite with baby Jaxson.
“Just to see him moving and smiling, laughing, it's just it's hard to believe like that everything that day had to line up so perfectly for that kid to be where he's at today," Scott said.
The officers were able to see the results of their bravery firsthand.
“I would say that having children, you definitely go home and at the end of it, when things finally start settling down and you have to go back and now hug your kids and be like, 'All right, I'm glad they're safe. We're good. We're all safe.' That's an experience there," Scott said. "But years of doing this job, you see some of the ugliest things so you learn how to compartmentalize these things.”
"It just drives home the fact of what's truly important, that's family and the people you care about. So every time something like this happens, and especially this incident specifically, it really proves what's actually important. And so cherishing our families and loving the people that we love just makes it that much more special," Vega-Reid said.