LAS VEGAS (AP) - A man suspected 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 evening shortly after the car barreled through the crowd and crashed into a cement barrier in front of Bally's hotel-casino. He remained jailed without bail on suspicion of murder and attempted murder.
During two interviews with police, Ressa told detectives he had borrowed his mother's car and drove to Las Vegas, where he spent a few days gambling at various casinos and slept in the car.
Although Ressa told police he had a drug and alcohol problem, he said he had used neither Wednesday. He told police he had been prescribed medication, but had stopped taking it.
Results of alcohol and drug tests were pending.
Rialto police Detective Sgt. Reinhard Burkholder said Thursday that Ressa was wanted for questioning in an assault on his mother, 54.
"He punched her numerous times in the face and choked her into unconsciousness and stood over her with a butcher knife," Burkholder said.
Earlier, Deputy Police Chief Greg McCurdy told reporters that Ressa appeared lucid and correctly answered questions about his ability to determine right and wrong. But Ressa's statements were "bizarre in nature," McCurdy said.
