CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. — Police arrested a Coral Springs man on an attempted murder charge Sunday after they said he tried to beat his 82-year-old mother to death with a frying pan and smother her.

An arrest report states that Keith Evan Woodward, 53, said he “intended to kill his mother due to her early dementia and need for constant assistance.”

Court records show Woodward lives in the 10300 block of Northwest 29th Street, though the incident location is redacted from the report.

Investigators said the violent attack happened at around 11:20 a.m., as Woodward and his mother were searching for a phone number for a caretaker.

“Keith armed himself with a large frying pan, entered (her) bedroom, approached her as she lay on the bed and struck her in the head with the pan in an attempt to kill her,” Coral Springs Police Department Detective Jeremy Racine wrote in the report.

Police said a “violent struggle ensued.”

“Keith climbed on top of (his mother) and attempted to smother her with pillows from the bed,” Racine wrote. “(She) resisted by pushing him and pinching him and repeatedly yelling that she could not breathe.”

Authorities said he then hit her at least twice more with the frying pan before attempting to smother her again.

Woodward’s mother “ultimately escaped by sliding out from under” her son, “falling to the floor and fleeing the room,” Racine wrote.

Authorities said she ran, with her son in pursuit, out the garage door. Police said Woodward stopped after she got out and “reported feeling guilt for his actions” and called first responders.

According to police, Woodward told a dispatcher he was “going to hell” for what he did.

Medics took Woodward’s mother to Broward Health Coral Springs, where she was “alert and conscious.” However, police said she suffered “severe bruising” and the “true extent of her injuries is yet to be determined by hospital staff.”

In court Monday morning, Woodward was ordered held without bond and to have no contact with his mother. He was also ordered to undergo a mental health screening.

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