Children Injured in Fire Discharged, Babysitter Says He's Not to Blame | News

All three children injured last week in an apartment fire in the downtown area have been discharged from the hospital.

Metro Police says they are working on felony neglect charges but they cannot say who the charges will be filed against. The babysitter for 5-year-old Jake and 3-year-olds Popi and Naya says it is their mother’s fault that her children nearly died.

Gary Layton did not want to show his face because he is worried about retaliation. He says the fire is difficult to think about. Layton is sure of one thing: he was not supposed to watch the children Wednesday. He says their mother told him she did not need him.

"And she said ‘I do not need you, so go ahead and do whatever you got to do.’ So, I went out on Fremont Experience, enjoying myself with my friends," Layton said.

It was while he was at Fremont Street that he got a call about the fire. He raced to the apartment complex where he found firefighters pulling the children’s lifeless bodies from their burning apartment.

"And then I am like: ‘Where is the third kid?’ and they are like: ‘What are you talking about?’ So, I ran up trying to get into the apartment. I physically fought the firefighters, and they said, ‘You cannot go up there, and I said, ‘There is another kid in there, I am going up!’," Layton said.

Neighbors say it was common for the mother to just leave the three children alone. Layton says this time it nearly cost the lives of three children.

"It shocked the hell out of me. I could not believe it. I actually could not believe she left her kids alone," Layton said. "And there is nothing else anyone could have done. Regardless of matches or lighters or whatever, she should have had her butt at home."

The firefighters that rushed to rescue the kids visited the hospital Friday.

"They were moved. They definitely were. It put a lump in your throat. They were just so glad because every one of those firefighters probably thought those kids would never get to go home again," Tim Szymanski with Las Vegas Fire & Rescue said.

8 News NOW tried to contact the children’s mother Friday but she was not at her apartment. Metro Police say she is not in their custody.