Surveillance Video Emerges Of Times Square Driver Plowing Through Pedestrians
Multiple videos from nearby security cameras in Times Square show, in graphic detail, the moment when Richard Rojas deliberately turned his maroon Honda off of 42nd Street and into a pedestrian-filled area. His rampage killed 18-year-old tourist Alyssa Elsman and injured 22 more, four of them critically.
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Rojas, 26, served in the Navy; however, he was dishonorably discharged in 2014. He had twice been arrested for drunk driving, in 2008 and 2015.
According to The New York Post, Rojas may have been attempting to commit suicide-by-cop. “You were supposed to shoot me! I wanted to kill them,” Rojas allegedly told police.
Rojas, who may have smoked PCP-laced marijuana, also may have told a bystander, "I wanted to kill them all!"
This would seem to invalidate initial reports that the incident was merely an accident. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio appeared to support that, telling a radio station, "It appears to be intentional in the sense that he was troubled and lashing out."
Rojas has been charged with one count of murder, one count of aggravated vehicular homicide, and 20 counts of attempted murder.