A 73-year-old man from Florida has been taken into custody following an alleged attempt to kill his family in what he described as an effort to “get ’em up to heaven.”
Allison Hatton faces several charges, including attempted murder, aggravated battery on a person over 65, and assault with intent to commit a felony, according to a statement from the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident unfolded when Hatton allegedly attacked a 69-year-old family member, waking her by repeatedly stabbing her in the neck with a kitchen knife. The assault was interrupted by another relative, who managed to disarm him.
Undeterred, Hatton reportedly grabbed a second knife, threatening to kill the intervening relative unless she allowed him to continue his attack on the initial victim.
In a further escalation, Hatton then turned the knife on himself, stabbing his own throat.
Upon their arrival, deputies recounted Hatton’s claim that he intended to kill both women, his dog, and then himself as part of his plan.
Hatton and the stabbing victim were taken to a hospital for treatment, and Hatton was arrested after his release from the hospital.
According to Law&Crime, the 69-year-old victim was Hatton’s wife, and the other adult was their 42-year-old daughter, who called 911 and said that her father had stabbed her mother, who was “bleeding profusely.”
The daughter told police that she awaked “by hearing her mother scream ‘stop’ and ‘don’t do it.’”
“[The daughter] said she entered the living room where her mother was seated in her chair, where she typically sleeps,” an affidavit said. “[The daughter] said she saw her father standing over her mother with a knife in his hand. According to [the daughter], she managed to get the knife away from Mr. Hatton.”
The daughter further told investigators that her father had been refusing to eat of late, not because there was anything wrong with him but because “he just didn’t want to eat.” He had been receiving nutrients through a feeding tube, she said. She also said that her father “has been talking to God out loud the last several days, in which he purportedly asked Him, ‘if this isn’t right, tell me.’”
The daughter said she “didn’t know to what [her dad] was referring to until today.”
Hatton allegedly told detectives that “he was tired of everyone suffering and intended to kill his entire family, including the dog.”
He is being held without bond and is due in court on Friday.
