Father stabbed mother in head before Riviera Beach apartment fire

RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — 

A man accused of setting fire to an apartment complex in Riviera Beach with children trapped inside, stabbed their mother in the head during a fight, minutes before flames ripped through the apartment, police said.

The fire happened Friday night at the Stonybrook Apartment complex on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Riviera Beach. Authorities believe the fire began in the living room on two couches, likely from an accelerant.

Video shared to CBS12 showed people breaking through the locked apartment door to rescue two young children trapped inside. Riviera Beach firefighters found the third child, a one-month-old girl, underneath a door. It may have saved her life, firefighters said Saturday.

Velmando Williams, the father of two of the woman's children, her 3-and-1-year-old sons, is accused of setting the fire.

Police wrote in the arrest report the woman, after being stabbed by Williams, ran out of the apartment half-naked to get help.

Below is dramatic 911 call while the Stonybrook Apartment fire was still blazing.

Williams, according to the report, claimed her relatives attacked him as he tried to leave the complex by jumping through a kitchen window. He told police he didn't know about the fire, but saw smoke coming from the apartment.

Police asked Williams why he didn't go back for his children if he saw fire. Williams said he just got into an argument with the mother and didn't want to go back.

Williams, 22, is facing charges of attempted murder, false imprisonment, simple domestic battery, and first degree arson. He's being held without bond.

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