Police have said a Washington County man has been charged with attempted homicide and aggravated assault after he struck a woman in the head with a sledgehammer.

Paul C. Helmick, 47, is being held in the Washington County Jail on $250,000 bond, police said.

Authorities said the attack happened at an apartment in Belvedere Acres on Bel Air Drive in Canton Township at about 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

Police said Helmick beat in Lori Ann Phillips’ apartment door and then hit the 51-year-old in the head.

A young boy told Channel 11 News what he saw from his apartment window.

"I just looked out the window and I seen him with a sledgehammer behind his hand,” the boy said. “I was really worried what he was going to do and he went right upstairs and I sat down on the couch and I heard him bang on the door, and I was really scared that what he was going to do."

Phillips was airlifted to a UPMC Presbyterian Hospital and is in critical condition with a skull fracture.