William Lee Smith booking photo from a 2020 arrest courtesy of the Winter Haven Police Department.
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - Two men are in the hospital and a dog is dead after police say a Winter Haven man went on a violent attack after arguing with a family member early Thursday morning.
According to the Winter Haven Police Department, William Lee Smith, 25, got into an altercation with a relative he lives with at the Abbey Lane Apartments and tried to strangle the victim.
Investigators say he stopped when two men and a woman knocked on the door to the apartment. The trio went inside, along with a 2-year-old Pitbull named Bruiser, and began talking with the victim, according to WHPD.
At that time, investigators say Smith went into a bedroom and tried to get the female visitor to speak with him but she told him he would have to wait. Authorities say Smith continued to try to get the woman to go to the bedroom he was in and was growing more upset as she kept telling him to wait.
A short time later, officers say Smith came out of the bedroom with plastic wrapped on various parts of his body and started attacking both men and the dog with a large knife that had a ridged blade.
As the attack continued, police say the victims ran out of the apartment through a back door and Smith ran out of the front door of the apartment.
When officers arrived, they say they found Smith still wrapped in plastic and found the knife hidden in a bush nearby.
The two men were taken to Lakeland Regional Health in serious condition.
Officers say Smith initially refused to identify himself but was ultimately arrested and charged with attempted murder, tampering with evidence, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, animal cruelty, domestic violence, and resisting an officer without violence.