GUILTY NV - Stephen Ressa drove into crowd, killing 3, Las Vegas, 21 Sept 2005

A man accused of killing two tourists and injuring 12 others on the Las Vegas Strip told police he steered his car into the crowd on the sidewalk because they were staring at him like demons.

Stephen M. Ressa, 27, also told police he saw people with their hands in their pockets and thought they might be armed with guns, according to an arrest report obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

"They were staring at him like they were `demons,'" the report said. "Ressa admitted he became angry at them, and intentionally steered the vehicle toward them."

Ressa, of Rialto, Calif., was arrested Wednesday shortly after the car barreled through the crowd and crashed into a cement barrier in front of Bally's hotel-casino. He was being held without bail on suspicion of murder and attempted murder.

Six of the victims remained hospitalized Friday, with one listed in serious condition.

Ressa is also suspected in a near-fatal attack on his mother two days before the crash, though he has not been charged in that case. His father said the family had been "living in fear" of Ressa, a former star baseball player, and had tried to get him treatment and counseling.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=

The parents of the man accused of driving his mother's stolen Buick onto the sidewalk along the Las Vegas Strip say the Stephen Ressa who allegedly killed three people is not the son they knew.

That person, they said, was a healthy, talented young man who spiraled into the depths of mental illness within just a couple of years' time.

``We just can't believe it, our hearts are so broken,'' Christine Ressa told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

``We tried to understand his fear and paranoia, his fear of other people, and we tried to work with him,'' Michael Ressa said. ``It was to no avail.''

The Ressas said their son struggled with alcohol and methamphetamine use as well and checked into rehabilitation centers twice.

Defense attorney Joe Abood of the Clark County public defender's office said Ressa's interview with detectives at the scene makes it clear his client is mentally ill.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/12864327.htm

From October 2007:

http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/california-man-pleads-guilty-deadly-strip-incident

A 29-year-old California man, accused of mowing down 14 people on a Strip sidewalk, killing three, pleaded guilty but mentally ill Monday...

On Sept. 21, 2005, Ressa drove a Buick sedan into a crowd of people on the Strip near Bally's resort, killing Gordon Kusayanagi, 52, of Hollister, Calif., Mark Modaressi, 26, of Irvine, Calif., and 60-year-old Richard Bradford of Renton, Wash., and injuring others...

The former college baseball player is set to be sentenced in November to six life terms without the possibility of parole for three counts of murder with use of a deadly weapon.

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