Florida man accused of attacking woman in head with hatchet

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A Florida man is accused of attempted murder after deputies said he attacked a woman with a hatchet and left it in her head, authorities said.

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According to a news release from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, Michael Dougherty, 40, was charged with one felony count of attempted second-degree murder for the Tuesday attack.

The sheriff’s office said they responded to a report of an attempted murder at 10:36 a.m. EST in St. Petersburg, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Deputies found a 56-year-old woman with a hatchet “protruding from her head” and she was taken to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries, deputies said.

The sheriff’s office did not name the woman, but WFLA-TV reported that family members identified her as Lisa Rogers Eaton of St. Petersburg. The attack occurred at the Silver Lake Mobile Home Park in St. Petersburg, according to the television station.

“We don’t understand it,” Donna Voye, the victim’s older sister, told WFLA. “We can’t understand it because she wouldn’t hurt anybody.

“No family should ever get a call like we got telling us that or them that their family member is brutally attacked as our little sister was.”

Deputies said Dougherty fled the home before they arrived at the scene, WTSP-TV reported. Detectives were able to trace Dougherty’s vehicle to Gainesville, about 150 miles north of St. Petersburg, according to WTVT.

On Thursday, around 2:50 a.m., Dougherty was pulled over by an Alachua County deputy and arrested, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.

Dougherty is currently being held at the Alachua County Jail while authorities arrange for him to be taken to Pinellas County, the Times reported.

Meanwhile, family members are grappling with questions and are preparing to say their goodbyes, WFLA reported.

“As good as a person she has done a whole life for her life at 56 years old, be taken away by someone that’s so mean,” Voye told the television station. “Why? Why? It just doesn’t make any sense.”

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