Pastor: Mental illness drove man to ram car into his family

A man suffering from severe mental illness left a meal with his family and then drove his sport utility vehicle at high speed into the restaurant, killing his daughter and daughter-in-law and critically injuring other relatives, his pastor said Monday.

Roger Self had been treated for depression and anxiety that seemed to become more intense in the two and a half months preceding Sunday's deadly crash, said the Rev. Austin Rammell of Venture Church in Dallas, North Carolina. The pastor, who is a close family friend, said Self opened up about his problems about 10 weeks ago, when he asked his son to take his guns away from him.

This Sunday, May 20, 2018, booking photo provided by the Gaston County Sheriff's Office shows Roger Self. Police say that Self intentionally rammed a vehicle into a restaurant shortly after midday Sunday, May 20, 2018, in Bessemer City, N.C., leaving his 26-year-old daughter and one other person dead and several others injured. Self was immediately arrested.  (Gaston County Sheriff's Office via AP)

"His family and close friends have intensely labored to try and get Roger help. We all feel a level of guilt," the pastor said at a news conference.

The pastor said Self's judgment had become impaired, but he didn't imagine he would hurt his family. He said his friend may have hoped to die in the crash, and that "It's very possible that Roger imagined in his mind that the best thing for his family is that they all just go together."

The crash sent stunned patrons scrambling at the Surf and Turf Lodge, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Charlotte. Self was immediately arrested.

Authorities work the scene of a restaurant where police say a man intentionally rammed a vehicle into the steak and seafood eatery shortly after midday Sunday, May 20, 2018, in Bessemer City, N.C.(Kevin Ellis/The Gaston Gazette via AP)

Shackled and wearing an orange jumpsuit at a hearing on Monday, he showed little emotion as he asked for a court-appointed attorney and was ordered jailed without bond on two charges of first-degree murder.

The Selfs are a family of first responders. His daughter, Katelyn Self was a deputy with the Gaston County Sheriff's Office. She and his daughter-in-law, Amanda Self, an emergency room nurse, were killed as the car rammed through the outside wall. Amanda Self was married to Roger's son Josh Self, a Gaston County police officer.

Josh Self and Roger Self's wife, Diane, were in critical but stable condition on Monday, said Rammell, who has been in close contact with the family. A 13-year-old granddaughter of Self's was treated and released from the hospital, police said.

This frame grab from video provided by WSOC-TV 9 in Charlotte, N.C., shows an SUV driven by Roger Self being towed from the scene after Self intentionally rammed his vehicle into a restaurant busy with a lunchtime crowd, Sunday, May 20, 2018, killing his daughter and another person and injuring several others, in Bessemer City, N.C., according to authorities. (Courtesy of WSOC-TV 9 via AP)

At a news conference Monday, officials with the Bessemer Police Department declined to elaborate on Self's mental health. But police spokesman Rob Tufano said evidence gathered so far shows the crash was intentional.

"It is abundantly clear that this was not an accident; that this was something Mr. Self had intentionally done," Tufano said.

Katelyn Self had arranged Sunday's after-church lunch, inviting her fiance and his parents as well, because she was hoping that her father would feel better if he were surrounded by family, Rammell said. They had ordered drinks and appetizers and were talking and laughing after being seated at a table near the window.

This frame grab from video provided by WSOC-TV 9 in Charlotte, N.C., shows a scene where a man intentionally rammed a vehicle into a restaurant busy with a lunchtime crowd, Sunday, May 20, 2018, killing his daughter and another person and injuring several others, in Bessemer City, N.C., according to authorities. (Courtesy of WSOC-TV 9 via AP)

The pastor said the family wasn't initially concerned when he got up, figuring he may have been suffering from anxiety.

"They began noticing his car out in the parking lot had circled. And the next thing you know he came through the window," Rammell said.

The pastor said Self had seen a psychiatrist and family doctor but hadn't been hospitalized. Rammell said Self told him he was taking medicine for depression and anxiety, but he was becoming particularly unstable over the weekend.

This 2017 photo shows Roger Self in his office at Southeastern Loss Management, in Dallas, N.C. Police say that Self intentionally rammed a vehicle into a restaurant shortly after midday Sunday, May 20, 2018(John Clark/The Gaston Gazette via AP)

"It was a roller coaster, and in the last few days it went from bad to really bad," he said.

Katelyn Self, 26, was a four-year veteran of the Gaston County Sheriff's Office, the sheriff said in a news release. She had worked as a corporal in the jail and was off duty when she was fatally injured.

Authorities said the family was requesting privacy and referred any questions to Rammell.

Roger Self, himself a former law enforcement officer, ran a private investigations business called Southeastern Loss Management, mostly working for companies to investigate employees' wrongdoing. Rammell said the business had been going through an unspecified "transition" that required the help of some friends, but he didn't elaborate.

Rammell, whose church is listed in a directory of the Southern Baptist Convention, said Self had been active for decades in a Baptist congregation that grew into Venture Church. He said Self had served as a volunteer youth minister to "hundreds and hundreds."

The mission of this church has always been to help others, but Rammell said he needs to learn more about mental illness and the challenges people can face in finding treatment. 

"This has been a huge lesson for me," he said, later adding: "I think we as a nation are very ignorant about it, and we need to get non-ignorant about it.

BRUSSELS (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Wednesday urged voters to reject mainstream political parties in upcoming European Union elections for their failure of leadership and said Ukraine must never be allowed to join the bloc or NATO.

Orbán, the keynote speaker at a gathering in Brussels of international far right politicians and supporters, railed against EU climate policy and agriculture rules that he said have left farmers in great difficulty. He said that Europe’s “migration crisis” is now bigger than ever.

“The sense of this European election is: change the leadership,” Orbán told an audience of about 200 people, as campaigning heats up for Europe-wide polls on June 6-9. “If the leadership proves to be bad, it must be replaced. That’s so simple,” the right-wing populist leader said, to applause.

Orbán — a self-proclaimed “illiberal democrat” — took aim at the EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, for using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to attack his country. “The bureaucrats in Brussels tried to suffocate Hungary financially,” he said.

The commission has denied Hungary access to billions of euros over concerns about democratic backsliding in the country and the possible mismanagement of EU money.

The Hungarian leader, who has been in office since 2010, also underlined the failure of EU sanctions to stop the war in Ukraine. Addressing the fact that he’s often described in the media as a staunch ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Orbán said: “My mother is not happy.”

He said Hungary’s biggest concern is that it does not want to share a common border with Russia again and that Ukraine should not be allowed to join the EU and NATO. “Guys, you have to understand that you are a buffer zone country. You can’t change your house number,” he said.

Ukraine has applied to join both organizations, but it’s unlikely that it will be permitted to do so while the war rages on, and Hungary has routinely vetoed high-level talks with the country and funds to keep its conflict-ravaged economy afloat, standing alone against its Western partners.

Orbán said “Ukraine is now just a protectorate” relying on Western money and weapons and is “not a sovereign state anymore.” However, NATO and EU leaders insist that the war is an existential question for Europe and that Putin must not be allowed to win.

The National Conservative conference, a gathering of strident nationalists and fundamentalist Christians, resumed earlier on Wednesday after winning a legal challenge against authorities in the Belgian capital who feared the event could pose a threat to public order.

French far-right figurehead Eric Zemmour had been scheduled to criticize the EU’s new migrant and asylum rules at the event Tuesday but was turned away by police. He returned Wednesday, was quickly surrounded by media, stood for a few photos with admirers and retired to the VIP room.

Emir Kir, mayor of the Saint-Joss neighborhood where it was held, had ordered police to prevent people from entering.

Kir acted after a group of anti-fascists threatened to disrupt the meeting. Indeed, the group had harassed conference organizers in recent days, forcing them to change venues twice. No protesters were in sight hours after police began to shut the event down but around 50 gathered after most participants had left on Tuesday.

After an overnight legal challenge, a Brussels judge put stayed the closure order. On Tuesday, Nigel Farage, the man credited with taking Britain out of the European Union, addressed the crowd, saying that “a new form of evil ideology” had tried to silence the conference.

The Belgian and British leaders expressed concern about developments.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, a liberal and opponent of the far right, called the shutdown unacceptable in a post on the X platform.

“Municipal autonomy is a cornerstone of our democracy but can never overrule the Belgian constitution guaranteeing the freedom of speech and peaceful assembly since 1830. Banning political meetings is unconstitutional. Full stop,” he wrote.

A spokeswoman for Rishi Sunak said the British prime minister thought the move was “extremely disturbing.”

NatCon 2024, as the event is dubbed, is a haven for many of those on Europe's extreme right that mainstream parties fear most. Surveys suggest that centrist parties are likely to retain power after the June elections, but possibly with a reduced majority.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks during the National Conservatism conference in Brussels, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks during the National Conservatism conference in Brussels, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Germany's Hans-Georg Maassen attends the National Conservatism conference in Brussels, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Activist Gloria von Thurn-und-Taxis looks at her electronic device as she attends the National Conservatism conference in Brussels, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

French politician Eric Zemmour, center, speaks with the media as he arrives for the National Conservatism conference in Brussels, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

From left, Lawyer Paul Coleman, Catholic priest Father Benedict Kiely and activist Gloria von Thurn-und-Taxis attend the National Conservatism conference in Brussels, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks during the National Conservatism conference in Brussels, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Police look on as demonstrators hold a banner outside the National Conservatism conference in Brussels, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Former MEP and Honorary President of the Reform UK party Nigel Farage speaks during the National Conservatism conference in Brussels, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Former MEP and Honorary President of the Reform UK party Nigel Farage, right, and member of the Flemish separatist party Vlaams Belang Filip Dewinter arrive for the National Conservatism conference in Brussels, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Police guard outside the front entrance of the event venue as the National Conservatism conference takes place in Brussels, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)