A 27-year-old Whitehaven man is facing an attempted second-degree murder charge after police say he beat his mother with a baseball bat during an argument over her refusal to cook him food, leaving her with a critical head injury. Deangelo Billingsley was booked into the Shelby County Jail on Saturday afternoon following the attack at a home on Bonita Avenue.
According to WMC Action News 5, Memphis police began investigating after receiving a call for help from the Bonita Avenue home on Friday. Officers found that Billingsley had allegedly argued with his mother over his demand that she cook him food, and that the dispute escalated when he charged at her with a metal baseball bat and struck her in the head, according to the arrest affidavit cited by the station. She suffered a critical laceration to her forehead and was rushed to a hospital for life-saving treatment.
Billingsley was detained at the scene, and his mother gave a statement to police there before she was taken for medical care. At the hospital, she reportedly became unable to speak with investigators but identified her son as responsible for her injuries from a photo, per the station's report. Billingsley was living with his mother at the time of his arrest, according to court records cited in the same account, and he reportedly confessed to investigators at a police station, giving a statement that matched his mother's version of events.
Attempted Murder and Domestic Assault Charges
Police charged Billingsley with attempted second-degree murder and domestic assault, per Memphis police. Under Tennessee law, second-degree murder is a Class A felony, which makes an attempt to commit it a Class B felony carrying a potential sentence of 8 to 30 years in state prison, according to Justia. State statute also allows prosecutors to point to a pattern of repeated domestic incidents against the same victim as evidence that a defendant was aware his conduct was reasonably certain to result in death, a provision that could factor into how the case against Billingsley proceeds.
This is not the first time Billingsley has been accused of harming his mother or her property. He is associated with a prior case from 2024 in which he allegedly shattered his mother's car windshield after she kicked him out of her house. That earlier case is now tied to his current bond: on top of a $50,000 bond in the assault case, Billingsley was issued an additional $2,000 bond for violating bail conditions stemming from the 2024 case, bringing his total bond to $52,000. He also faces a vandalism charge tied to the current incident, valued at $1,000 or less, which under Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-14-408 is a Class A misdemeanor carrying a potential penalty of up to 11 months and 29 days in jail and fines up to $2,500.
Domestic Violence Remains Stubborn Even as Other Crime Falls
Billingsley's case lands amid a broader pattern local officials have flagged in Shelby County. While major violent crime in Memphis dropped 31.5% and countywide crime fell 30.4% during the first half of 2026 compared with the same period the year before, domestic violence declined far more slowly — just 5.7% in Memphis and 5.9% countywide, according to the Tennessee Bar Association. Memphis police officers respond to more than 40 domestic violence calls every day, and such incidents account for more than half of all violent crime reported in the city, per Memphis Says NO MORE.
Recidivism among domestic violence defendants is also a documented problem locally. Data from the Shelby County District Attorney's Office shows that more than 20% of people arrested for domestic violence in the county have prior domestic violence charges or arrests, according to the University of Memphis Public Safety Institute. The county's specialized Domestic Violence Unit has handled more than 4,100 such cases in a single year, reflecting the scale of the caseload local prosecutors manage.
Victims in Shelby County have access to dedicated resources, including the Family Safety Center, which runs a 24-hour crisis line and offers civil legal assistance alongside emergency safety planning, per the same University of Memphis account. Tennessee lawmakers have also moved to address release risks in domestic violence cases through the Debbie and Marie Domestic Violence Protection Act, which allows courts to order GPS monitoring for offenders released on pretrial bond, as Hoodline previously reported.
Billingsley remains held at the Shelby County Jail on the combined $52,000 bond. His mother's long-term medical condition has not been disclosed, and it remains unclear whether she will be able to testify if the case goes to trial.
