Man's hand nearly severed in Leesburg machete attack, police say

LEESBURG, Fla. — A Leesburg man accused of attacking another man with a machete, nearly severing his hand, was arrested Thursday.

Police responded to a home on Georgia Avenue early Thursday where they said they found the victim laying in front of a home with severe lacerations on his head torso and left arm.

A witness told police he and Gary Mosley were sitting in a screened-in porch playing cards when a man walked up from the driveway and tried to get into the home.

The victim and witness yelled at the man to stop, but said he continued to break into the house.

One of the witnesses sprayed the man with pepper spray from behind the screen door, and that’s when the man pulled out a machete and attacked the victim, according to a police report.

“He hit him in the torso, the head, the arm. He basically hit him all over the place,” said Leesburg police spokesperson Steve Rockefeller.

The suspect was gone when officers arrived, police said.

Police found the bloody machete in the bushes.

Later in the day, the suspect’s wife called police when she heard about the incident.

She told officers that her husband, Carlos Reyes, came home “covered in blood” and was sweating as though he had been in come kind of altercation.

She said Reyes told her he had been attacked by a dog, then said he tripped over a fence.

She also said she Reyes had become increasingly violent lately and had been doing drugs, including PCP.

Police found they found incriminating evidence in Reyes’ home, including bloody clothes.

Reyes was unable to explain why he went to the victim’s home, a report said.

He’s facing an attempted murder charge and is being held in jail without bond.

Mosley remains hospitalized.

Cox Media Group