Sheriff: Manatee man arrested after trying to strangle his mother

MANATEE - A 27-year-old man was in jail after he choked his mother and was grazed by a bullet fired from a gun his grandfather was using to stop the attack, according to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office. The attack was witnessed by five young children.

James Swan was playing a computer game at a residence in the 6400 block of 12th Avenue East about 10 p.m. Thursday, when his 50-year-old mother asked him to stop so that her three grandchildren could go to sleep in the room. Swan, who had been drinking and getting loud, ignored the request, and when the woman placed her hand on his shoulder, Swan grabbed her by the hair and threw her onto the bed, according to the sheriff's report.

The woman was able to get to the kitchen to call 911, but Swan ripped the phone off the wall, banged his head into the drywall and then grabbed his mother and threw her on the floor. He then back to choke her, "saying he was going to kill her," the report states.

Swan's grandfather — and the father of the woman — tried to stop the attack, but Swan warned that he would kill him, too.

The older man retrieved a gun out of a closet. He returned to the living room, and while the gun was still in the holster, Swan grabbed him by the arm and the gun fired, according to the sheriff's office. The bullet grazed Swan behind the left ear, and struck the living room window and the wood frame of the porch.

Swan was taken to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, but he refused treatment. He later returned to Manatee County and was being held without bond at the county jail on charges of domestic battery by strangulation, child abuse and felony tampering.