Warrants: Man armed with knife tried to kidnap two children

An Oak Ridge man allegedly broke into a home this month, assaulted the mother of his children, threw a five-inch kitchen knife at a man at the home, and tried to kidnap two kids, authorities said.

Justin L. Williams, 23, is accused of going upstairs at the Knoll Lane home armed with a five-inch kitchen knife and confronting the woman in the hall, shoving her against a door and to the floor, and assaulting her again outside while taking her car keys to get child seats, according to arrest warrants filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court.

The woman, who had a laceration to her right big toe, reportedly called 911 on her cell phone during the assault at about 4:18 a.m. January 14, the warrants said.

“The defendant took the cell phone away from (the woman) and ended the call before she could report the crime in progress,” Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Benjamin Haines wrote in a warrant. Haines responded to the home to investigate the 911 hang-up call.

Williams also is accused of brandishing the knife at the second victim, who fled the house in fear, the warrants said. Williams allegedly threw the knife at the man from 20 feet away in the parking lot.

After assaulting the woman and forcing the man out of the home, Williams allegedly removed a three-year-old girl and a two-year-old girl from their beds, took them to the parking lot, and placed the children in his vehicle.

“When further confrontations occurred over the children’s car seats, the defendant abandoned his kidnapping and fled the area,” the warrants said.

Williams has been charged with two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary, aggravated assault, aggravated domestic assault, interfering with a 911 call, and theft. He remained jailed in the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton on Friday afternoon.

The court documents said Williams and the woman have two children in common and had lived together for several years until four days before the alleged crimes, but Williams had moved out as part of a break-up.

He allegedly entered the Knoll Lane home by breaking a kitchen window and crawling into the house.

Williams allegedly took the woman’s pepper spray, valued at $25, when he fled the scene.

Haines said Williams and the woman are not married, and the woman retains full custodial rights to the children.