Baby Held Hostage In Burning Sacramento Apartment

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) -- A baby was rushed to the hospital after being held hostage in an apartment that later caught fire early Friday morning.

Sacramento Metro Fire, Sacramento Police, and the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office initially arrived at an apartment complex on Madison Avenue near Jackson Street around 4 a.m. in North Highlands in response to reports of a fire.

Deputies say a mother who had a restraining order against a father was in the middle of a supervised visit when a fight broke out. The father allegedly held a knife to the baby's throat, then retreated to a bedroom.

That's when authorities believe the suspect lit the fire.

Metro Fire crews had to cut through an adjacent apartment wall to save the people inside.

Four people were transported to the hospital. Two of them were able to escape on their own. Neighbors reported it was the man who barricaded himself and the baby inside the apartment.

A neighbor who rushed to safety said, "It started off sounding like domestic violence, and then it just started getting worse. I saw the Sheriff's Department flashing their lights and everything. And that's when I went to go use the restroom, and the next thing I hear is constant banging on our door."

Another neighbor that was able to escape to safety only to see their home burn had this to say, "The cops were knocking on everybody's door telling us to evacuate because we're sandwiched in the middle. They thought there was going to be a shootout. At first, there were cops knocking on everybody's door wth AR-15s telling everybody to leave and 20 minutes later it caught fire"

Since the fire is now out, the investigation is now being handled by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.

Both the father and the 1-year-old are expected to survive, deputies say.