Police: Man arrested after holding hostages in Santa Rosa apartment

Santa Rosa police arrested a man suspected of holding four people hostage, including a child, early Thursday inside an apartment, threatening to kill them and set the apartment on fire.

Police shot Jarrett Cole, 25, with a foam bullet in his torso after he threatened to kill the officers who responded to the scene, the Santa Rosa Police Department said in a news release.

Cole, who lives in El Dorado County, was taken to a hospital with what police described as minor injuries following his arrest.

Officers were called to the apartment in the 500 block of Apple Creek Lane at about 1:22 a.m. By that time, the people inside the apartment had been held hostage by Cole for roughly two hours, police said.

Cole had been brought to the apartment Wednesday evening by an acquaintance, according to police.

Police were notified of the situation after one of the people inside the apartment called an acquaintance and left the phone line open. That acquaintance then called 911, police said.

“Through the open phone line, the (911 caller) could hear Cole acting aggressively, making threats, and referring to himself as ‘God,’” the news release said. “Cole would not allow the tenants to leave, move within the home, or communicate with their phones.”

Police said Cole had a knife and he stabbed a television with it. He also punched a dog in the head and threatened to hurt a 5-year-old child inside the apartment, police said.

When police arrived, they surrounded the apartment and saw a woman open the front door and throw a knife outside. She had taken the knife from Cole after he began fighting with one of the men he was holding captive, according to the news release.

Cole then went outside the apartment and threatened to kill the officers he encountered, but he did not have a weapon in his hands, police said.

Cole, who displayed signs of being under the influence of narcotics, stood on a stairway in the apartment building while officers “negotiated” with him for about 15 minutes in an attempt to get him to surrender, police said.

An officer shot Cole once with a foam bullet after Cole “again stated he was going to kill officers on scene and took steps off the stairway towards them,” the news release said.

Officers handcuffed Cole and he was evaluated by medics on scene before he was taken to a hospital.

Officers who searched Cole found suspected methamphetamine, police said.

He was booked into the Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of false imprisonment, assault with a deadly weapon, threatening police, possession of a controlled substance, battery, kidnapping, criminal threats, animal cruelty and vandalism. His bail was set at $100,000.

You can reach Staff Writer Matt Pera at matthew.pera@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @Matt__Pera.