Killeen Man Indicted After Attacking Woman and Child With a Hammer

A Killeen man accused of attacking his girlfriend and her 9-year-old son with a hammer in January was indicted by a grand jury Wednesday.

42-year-old Cecil Howell Jr. was indicted on one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of injury to a child. Howell was arrested on January 14 after Killeen police responded to a domestic violence disturbance in the 400 block of West Avenue C just after 1:40 a.m. When they arrived, officers found the woman and her son bleeding from their heads. The adult victim told police that Howell struck her in the face with a hammer, then turned the weapon on her son when he tried to intervene. Howell was not at the scene when police arrived, but was found a short time later walking along the 100 block of North College Avenue. At the time of his arrest, police observed fresh blood and a scratch on one of Howell’s fingers.

Howell is currently in the Bell County Jail with bail set at $400,000. In 2011, he was convicted of possession of a controlled substance, 1 to 4 grams, in Denton County.