AUBURN — Police said they charged a local man this past weekend with attempted murder after he tried to strangle his girlfriend with an electrical cord.

Mack Williams Jr., 30, of 712 Washington St. was held Monday at Androscoggin County Jail in lieu of $10,000 cash or $20,000 real estate following an appearance at 8th District Court in Lewiston. If convicted of attempted murder, Williams faces up to 30 years in prison.

Police said they were called to his home at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday by a roommate, Christopher Spence, 32, who reported that Williams and Jill Weisman, 25, had argued and the fight turned physical. He told police that Williams tried to strangle Weisman with an electrical cord then fled on foot before police arrived.

Spence said Williams also assaulted him with a child’s metal chair and a guitar.

Police wrote in an affidavit for Williams’ arrest that Weisman was lying on the floor when they arrived. After getting to her feet, she appeared to be incoherent and only stared when asked questions.

A red mark encircled her neck and she winced in pain indicating an injury to her left thigh, the affidavit said.

An ambulance was called for Weisman, who recovered from her injuries enough to speak to police. She said she didn’t know how she got the red mark on her neck. She said she remembered that she was hit in the thigh with a plastic guitar used in the video game Guitar Hero. She told police she was hit in the back of the head with something, but didn’t know what hit her. She was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston where she was later treated and released.

Spence told police that he and his girlfriend had been in his bedroom when they heard Weisman scream. He opened his door and saw Williams in his bedroom “trying to strangle Jill with the electrical cord of an electric space heater. Chris told me he thought Mack was going to kill her so he feared for her life,” police officer James Phillips wrote in an affidavit.

When Spence told Williams to stop or he’d end up killing Weisman, Williams said, “That’s what I’m trying to do,” according to Phillips’ affidavit.

Spence told police he dragged Williams away from Weisman into the living room where the two men fought. Williams went back into his bedroom and hit Weisman with the plastic guitar. When Spence opened Williams’ bedroom door to investigate, Williams hit Spence in the head with the guitar, breaking its handle, according to the affidavit.

When Spence said he was going to call the police, Williams struck him with a child’s metal lawn chair. Spence struck Williams with an open hand, then pulled him to the ground in an effort to keep him away from Weisman, according to Phillips’ affidavit.

As Spence yelled to his girlfriend to call police, Williams fled.

Brianne Leopold, Spence’s girlfriend, said that when she poked her head out of Spence’s bedroom door when he told her to call police, Williams had tried to attack her. She said she closed the door, retreated into a bathroom and called 911.

Weisman told police that she and Williams had argued over a text message that suggested Williams had cheated on Weisman. She remembered Williams hitting her with the guitar on the leg and, later, something struck her on the back of her head. She said she thought she had lost consciousness before police arrived and didn’t remember whether Williams had tried to strangle her with the electrical cord.

After he was booked and read his rights, Williams spoke to police about the incident at Androscoggin County Jail.

He said he had cheated on Weisman and a video on her cellphone proved it. The two had argued about it. When Williams went into his bedroom, he found Weisman packing a bag. They argued again, he said. When he tried to leave his bedroom, Weisman tried to stop him. He pushed her and she fell onto the bed, tripping over the heater, he said. They continued to argue. Weisman swung her arms at him; he pushed her. He threw a plastic guitar and “accidentally” hit her leg, he said.

In the living room, he and Spence began to struggle, Williams said. Spence held Williams down and told Leopold to call police. Williams said he took his cellphone and left the home.

When Phillips asked Williams whether he had tried to strangle Weisman with an electrical cord, Williams said: “I might have, but I do not remember,” Phillips wrote in his affidavit.

Police also charged Williams with aggravated assault, a Class B felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. A third charge, criminal threatening, carries a maximum jail sentence of 364 days.

cwilliams@sunjournal.com