Man Accused of Beating and Strangling 78-Year-Old Father

A 46-year-old Orland Park man is facing felony charges, after law enforcement said he attacked his elderly father, choking him and slamming his head into a ceramic floor.

Mark Williamson, of the 9200 block of West 143rd Street, was charged with attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery, according to a release from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s deputies were called Tuesday to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox, where the 78-year-old man was being treated for injuries, according to the release. The man said on Sunday, he was sitting at his desk at home, when late in the afternoon his son Mark approached him head on and started strangling him, according to the release. The two struggled and fell to the ground, where Mark Williamson pinned his father down to the floor from behind him, and then slammed his father’s face into the ceramic floor repeatedly, according to the release.

The attack caused serious injuries to the father’s neck, face and head, according to the sheriff’s office.

Mark Williamson then got up from the floor and left the residence, leaving his father injured and still on the floor. The man was able to call for emergency help and was taken to Silver Cross, authorities said.

Two days later he called in the attack to law enforcement, and sheriff’s deputies then found Mark Williamson in the house’s basement, huffing from a can of compressed air, according to the release.

The father’s current condition was not available at the New Lenox hospital Thursday.

Mark Williamson was taken into custody without any further incident, the sheriff’s office said. He was arrested previously for aggravated assault at the residence in March 2010, according to the sheriff’s office. The outcome of that case, and whether it involved his father, was not immediately available.

Mark Williamson was not given bail at a court hearing Thursday morning and remains in custody.

His next court date is scheduled for Nov. 29th.

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