Man charged with stabbing mom and daughter

By Megan Matteucci

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A Union City man was booked in the Clayton County jail Monday on charges he stabbed his ex-girlfriend and her 15-year-old daughter.

The Clayton County Sheriff's Fugitive Squad arrested James Kelly Howard, 31, around 2 a.m. at a home in Union City.

“We got a call he was at a residence in Union City and had already gotten a bus ticket to leave the state," said Lt. Brian Crisp, commander of the fugitive squad.

Undercover investigators surrounded the house in the 6400 block of Raymond Drive. Deputies had to use force to get Howard into handcuffs after he refused to comply with orders to surrender, Crisp said.

"He didn't come willingly or cheerfully," Sheriff Kem Kimbrough said.

Police say Howard stabbed the Tasha LaShawn Taylor, 37, multiple times during a dispute at her apartment on Arrowhead Boulevard on Friday night. He stabbed the daughter once before she fled the apartment, police said.

Howard is being held on two counts of aggravated assault, cruelty to children and possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime, according to jail records.

Taylor, of Jonesboro, was rushed to Atlanta Medical Center with serious injuries. Her condition was not available Monday, a spokeswoman for Atlanta Medical said.

The daughter was treated at Southern Regional Medical Center in Riverdale.