LAKE WALES, Fla. (WFLA) — A Lake Wales woman has been hospitalized after being severely beaten at an apartment complex Saturday morning, according to police.
The Lake Wales Police Department said officers were sent to an apartment on West Sessoms Avenue at around 3:25 a.m. after being told about a suicidal man in the area.
However, when officers arrived, they found a critically injured woman lying unconscious on the apartment’s floor, an LWPD release said.
First responders from the Lake Wales Fire Department and Polk County Emergency Medical Services managed to stabilize the woman and took her to a hospital, where she remains in critical condition.
The LWPD said as officers searched her apartment, they found the place “completely destroyed by violence with blood spattered throughout,” the release said.
Further investigation identified the suspect in the beating as Charles Armstrong Jr., 39, of Lake Wales, according to the department.
Officers got a warrant for Armstrong’s arrest on a charge for aggravated battery with great bodily harm.
Lake Wales police said Armstrong had multiple past convictions for aggravated battery, armed robbery, and attempted murder. He was also arrested in February on a charge of throwing a deadly missile into an occupied vehicle.
Police ask those with information on the case to call Detective Russell Klingler at 863-678-4223. Anonymous tips can also be made by calling Heartland Crime Stoppers at 1-800-226-TIPS (8477) or from any cell phone, dial **TIPS
