TEXARKANA, Texas–A Texarkana man has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly using scissors and a knife to assault two members of his household – a 5-year-old girl and a 54-year-old woman, according to court records filed last week.
Reginald Bell, 55, was arrested Tuesday after officers with the Texarkana Texas Police Department were called to a house in the 1200 block of Pierre Street for a welfare check, according to a probable cause affidavit. When Bell answered a knock from police, he reportedly held the door partially open and told officers everything was okay, but a woman standing behind him with blood covering her face shook her head “no,” according to a probable cause affidavit.
Officers got the woman outside of the house and observed both dried and fresh blood “all over her face” and a cut on the right side of her face. Inside the home, officers found a “visibly upset” 5-year-old girl with blood on her head and hands who was later found to have a cut on her head, according to the affidavit.
The woman – who thought she had been stabbed in the side and who had cuts to her head and arm – reported difficulty breathing. She and the girl were transported by ambulance to a local hospital for treatment.
Officers checked the house and a crime scene technician was called to document the bloody scene they allegedly discovered. Blood reportedly covered the living room floor and officers noted “bloody smear marks” there and blood droplets leading to a bedroom.
Bell had allegedly been drinking the night before at the home of the woman’s brother and sister-in-law – just a few doors down on Pierre Street – when her brother had a medical emergency and had to be transported via ambulance to a local hospital, according to the affidavit. The woman reportedly went to her family members’ home to pick up a 5-year-old boy so that his caregiver, the woman’s sister-in-law, could go to the hospital to be with her sick husband.
Later in the night, after her husband had been released from the hospital, the caregiver went to Bell’s house to pick up the boy, but no answer came when she knocked on the door, according to the affidavit. The caregiver reportedly decided to return early the next morning to get the boy in time to get him ready for school.
The following morning, the boy’s caregiver returned to the house where Bell was living with her sister-in-law and the girl. She reportedly told police that Bell sent the boy out without inviting her in, which was unusual. The boy allegedly told his caregiver that he thought “his aunt was dead” and that he’d seen Bell attack her with a pair of scissors, according to the affidavit.
The woman’s sister-in-law allegedly watched to see if the 5-year-old girl would come out of the house when it was time to get on the school bus and when she did not, she and her husband called 911 and asked for a welfare check.
Bell faces two to 20 years in a Texas prison on each count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon if convicted. The cases have been assigned to 102nd District Judge Jeff Addison.
