SURPRISE, Arizona. A man suspected of shooting his 6-month-old son multiple times after taking the boy and his mother hostage was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in the rubble of a suburban Phoenix home that caught fire during a police standoff. SWAT, police said Saturday.
The boy was reported in critical but stable condition at a local hospital on Saturday, Surprise police said in a statement. They previously said his injuries sustained the previous day were not considered life-threatening.
Officers went to the home in the town of Surprise, northwest of Phoenix, in response to an emergency call around 11:30 a.m. Friday from a woman who said she and her baby had been held captive there since 3 a.m. the child’s father, police said.
The mother escaped with minor injuries and called 911 with a cellphone she said she borrowed from a nearby construction crew.
Police heard gunshots coming from inside the house when they arrived, surprising police Sgt. Rick Hernandez said. They went inside and found the baby with multiple gunshot wounds, but did not see the father. They recovered the child and retreated.
The dead man, identified Saturday as 51-year-old Todd Christopher Marchetti, repeatedly refused to surrender peacefully. Fire damage to the house initially prevented authorities from finding it, Hernandez said early Saturday.
“Once it was safe for investigators to enter the residence, they discovered the remains of Marchetti with what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The cause of death is pending the results of the coroner’s full report,” police said in a statement Saturday night.
Aerial video and photos from the afternoon showed a thick cloud of smoke rising from the badly damaged home.
Surprise police scheduled a news conference Monday to provide additional details about the ongoing investigation, Hernandez said.
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