Cullman County man charged with attempted murder

Published 9:33 pm Tuesday, December 2, 2014

A domestic dispute over the holiday weekend led to a Cullman County man being charged with attempted murder after assaulting two men over what witnesses reported was a previous game of golf.

According to Investigator Justin Tyus at the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office, Westley Lamar Bagwell, 34, forced his way into a home near County Road 468 around Hanceville and declared to those inside — some of which were children — that he was “going to kill everyone in the house.”

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Bagwell then assaulted two adult men with golf clubs. After the men managed to remove Bagwell from inside the residence, the suspect attempted to run them over with a vehicle before fleeing the scene.  

Tyus said that witnesses had an idea of Bagwell’s motivations.

“What we were told at the scene was that he was intoxicated, and upset over a lost game of golf,” he said.

The sheriff’s office detained Bagwell on Hoenig Road in Hanceville.

In his vehicle, law enforcement found evidence that matched the scene of the crime, and Bagwell was arrested immediately on probable cause.

The crime is still under investigation, and the two victims’ names have not been released. Tyus did say, however, that at least one of the men assaulted had visual injuries to his neck.

Bagwell has been charged with two counts of attempted murder, burglary and assault. He was booked into the Cullman County Detention Center on Nov. 30 with $255,000 bond, and is still in detention.

* Zach Winslett can be contacted at zwinslett@cullmantimes.com or (256) 734-2131, ext. 137.