iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Richard Rojas, the 26-year-old Navy veteran who rammed his car into a crowd in New York’s Times Square last week, killing an 18-year-old woman and injuring 20 others, claims that he reached out to a mental health counselor prior to taking his fateful drive.
“He said he’d call me on Monday,” Rojas told the New York Post in a jailhouse interview while speaking about his attempts to seek counselling. “Monday hasn’t come yet.”
Shortly before noon on Thursday, Rojas, a resident of the Bronx, was driving south on 7th Avenue when he slowed down and allowed traffic to pass. He then made a U-turn at 42nd Street, accelerated and started to strike down pedestrians, according to police.
He accelerated and continued driving until he crashed at 45th Street, the NYPD said. After Rojas crashed, he exited the vehicle.
“I wanted to kill them,” he said of his victims, according to prosecutors.
Kenya Bradix, 47, a Planet Hollywood door supervisor, tackled Rojas and helped hold him until police arrived, Bradix told ABC News.
Court records said Rojas was observed with “glassy eyes, slurred speech, and was unsteady on his feet.”
He had smoked pot laced with PCP before the incident, Rojas told police. Authorities later confirmed that he had the drug in his system at the time.
The Post, which interviewed Rojas from New York’s Riker’s Island jail complex, described him as being “weepy” while discussing his attempts to seek help.
“I was trying to get help,” Rojas told the Post. “I wanted to fix my life. I wanted to get a job, get a girlfriend.”
Rojas is expected to return to court on May 24.
He was arraigned Friday on charges of murder, attempted murder and aggravated vehicular homicide.
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.