Pat Tillman’s brother, who crashed car into post office, dealing with ‘severe mental health issues’

Richard Tillman, the brother of late NFL player and Army hero Pat Tillman who crashed into a San Jose post office on Sunday morning, has been dealing with “severe mental issues for years,” his family says. 

Kevin Tillman, the brother of Pat and Richard, said that Richard was “livestreaming what, I’ll call, his altered self on social media,” which occurred during the crash. Richard told police at the scene of the crash, which set the post office ablaze after the car caught on fire, that he was live-streaming it. 

Richard also told officers he was Pat Tillman’s brother at the scene. 

“Our family is aware that my brother Richard has been arrested,” Kevin said in a statement to NBC Bay Area. “First and foremost, we are relieved that no one was physically harmed.

“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. 

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“To be clear, it’s not 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. We have nothing further to add at this time.”

Richard was arrested and booked on suspicion of arson, and is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday, per Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office’s online records. 

The 44-year-old crashed into the post office located in a strip mall around 3 a.m. early Sunday morning. It took about 50 firefighters an hour and a half to put out the flames, per NBC Bay Area. 

Pat was an NFL star for the Arizona Cardinals who famously left his career in football to enlist in the United States Army in May 2002. The decision came after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. 

Tillman served in Iraq and Afghanistan as an Army Ranger, making several combat tours before being killed in the Afghanistan mountains. 

While it was initially reported that Tillman was killed by enemy fire, the Pentagon told his family that he was killed by friendly fire. In 2007, the Pentagon ruled that Tillman’s death was accidental.

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