The brother of late NFL star and U.S. Army Ranger Pat Tillman is being held in custody in connection with a vehicle driven into a Northern California post office.
The San Jose Police Department said in an email to The Times on Monday that 44-year-old resident Richard Tillman was booked on charges of arson after he allegedly drove a car into the Almaden Valley Station Post Office at around 3 a.m. Sunday and caused the box lobby area to catch fire.
The fire was extinguished and no injuries were reported.
According to to the Santa Clara County Sheriff Office’s inmate locator, Richard Tillman is being held on a $60,000 bond and has a court hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
“The motive and circumstances are still under investigation,” the SJPD said.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which is leading the investigation, said in a statement emailed to The Times that it is looking into the incident “as a potentially intentional act.”
NBC Bay Area reported that the suspect told officers on the scene that he is Pat Tillman’s brother. The station also reports that the suspect live-streamed the incident on social media.
A third Tillman brother, Kevin, released a statement Monday.
“Our family is aware that my brother Richard has been arrested. First and foremost, we are relieved that no one was physically harmed,” Kevin Tillman stated. “We have limited information at this time but we are in communication with local authorities and are providing as much background and context as we can.
“To be clear, it’s no secret that Richard has been battling severe mental health issues for many years. He has been livestreaming, what I’ll call, his altered self on social media for anyone to witness. Unfortunately, securing the proper care and support for him has proven incredibly difficult — or rather, impossible. As a result, none of this is as shocking as it should be.”
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Pat Tillman famously walked away from a three-year, $3.6-million contract offer from the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the Army, along with Kevin.
On April 22, 2004, Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire in the province of Khost, Afghanistan. Richard Tillman spoke at his brother’s public memorial service on May 4, 2004, at the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden.
Last week, the San Francisco Chronicle reports, Richard Tillman had posted an 11-minute video onto YouTube in which he stated he would “take down the system,” including the U.S. government. His YouTube channel has since been removed, the Chronicle reports, but previously contained several videos “posted in recent months documenting his own apparent unraveling.”
