America's Got Talent season 6 winner Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. was arrested Monday for allegedly attacking the mother of his child with a golf club.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports Murphy was arrested in Whitman, West Virginia, around 7:40 p.m. local time for misdemeanor charges of domestic battery and domestic assault. He was reportedly released the same night on a $3,500 bond.
TMZ reports claims the argument was sparked in part over the couple's 6-month-old baby and turned violent when Murphy allegedly slapped his girlfriend and hit her under her left eye with a golf club. He also allegedly slammed her head on the sidewalk outside. According to the Gazette-Mail, the child was present during the incident.
The woman was reportedly treated at a local hospital. After Landau was arrested, he was released the same night on a $3,500 bond.
A rep for Murphy issued a statement to Billboard in which the singer describes a "heated argument" in which weapons were pulled. But he insists he did not hit out. “An unfortunate incident occurred at my home Monday evening. My girlfriend and her friends and family she had invited over had trashed the home. This has happened several times previously while I was away on tour.
"I asked them all to leave, a heated argument happened between us and she began destroying things with a golf club. She then attacked me with the golf club-and a knife. In defending myself, she obtained some bruises and swelling on her face. I did not strike her. She filed a complaint against me anyway."
Murphy says he was raised to "respect women, and if not provoked and feeling I was in danger, I would never have defended myself in this manner. I am very sorry for the way domestic incident was handled."
He also apologized to his fans, and the people of Logan County and West Virginia.
The incident, Murphy notes, "should never have happened.”
