SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) — There were a lot of relieved residents after a standoff ended Sunday morning, during which several apartments were evacuated for nearly six hours while a neighbor in the upstairs unit had a loaded gun by his baby.
"They were always fighting and I didn't feel safe at all," said a nearby resident Danilla Leyva.
A couple's intense fight turned dangerous when San Diego police say Nicholas Schaefer, 25, was intoxicated and pulled out a loaded handgun on his girlfriend near their baby girl.
"We evacuated and they were still up there with the baby," Leyva said.
Frightened neighbors heard everything at the Park Haven Apartments on Willow Road in San Ysidro.
Officers got the call around 5 a.m. of a domestic violence disturbance.
"When the call came in, it came in as an individual who was upset and angry and got into an argument with his girlfriend," said Captain Alberto Leos of the SDPD Southern Division.
"He pulled out a handgun waived it in a threatening manner so the female ended up leaving the apartment, went down the street and called the police - and that's when we responded."
Because the baby was still inside the unit, the hostage negotiation and swat teams arrived.
Officers called Schaefer by phone and megaphone multiple times for several hours with no response, so they used a flash-bang for a breakthrough.
"As we did so he finally came to the door and he surrendered peacefully," Leos said.
Schaefer held both his hands up before going downstairs where he was handcuffed around 11 a.m.
Moments later, an officer came down holding the baby girl.
The girl was checked out by paramedics who found no injuries.
She was later reunited with her mother.
"It's a win-win situation," Leos said. "These are the type of situations we all want to see, where no one's harmed no one's injured and the suspect gives up peacefully."
"I was scared," said Leyva. "I was like really scared because the officers were [here] with those guns."
The relieved 13-year-old Leyva says the couple only moved in a month ago.
"Yes, I feel safe because he's not here anymore," said Leyva.
Residents were allowed to return to their apartments shortly after Schaefer was arrested.
His girlfriend was interviewed by SDPD's domestic violence detectives