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.

In the warmly charming rom-com “The Idea of You," Anne Hathaway plays a 40-year-old divorcee and Silver Lake art gallery owner who, after taking her teenage daughter to Coachella, becomes romantically involved with a 24-year-old heartthrob in the boy band August Moon. They first meet after she mistakes his trailer for the bathroom.

There are a few hundred things about this premise that might be farfetched, including the odds of finding love anywhere near the porta johns of a music festival. But one of them is not that a young star like Hayes Campbell ( Nicholas Galitzine ) would fall for a single mom like Solène (Hathaway).

Solène is stylish, unimpressed by Hayes' celebrity and has bangs so perfect they look genetically modified. And, most importantly, she's Anne Hathaway. In the power dynamics of “The Idea of You,” Hayes may be a fictional pop star but Hathaway is a very real movie star. And you don't forget it for a moment in Michael Showalter's lightly appealing showcase of the actor at her resplendent best.

“The Idea of You,” which debuts Thursday on Prime Video, is full of all the kinds of contradictions that can make a rom-com work. The highly glamorous, megawatt-smiling Hathaway is playing a down-to-earth nobody. The showbiz veteran in the movie is played by Galitzine, a less well-known but up-and-coming British actor whose performance in the movie is quite authentic. And even though the whole scenario is undeniably a glossy high-concept Hollywood fairy tale, Showalter gives it enough texture that “The Idea of You” comes off more natural and sincere than you'd expect.

The only thing that really needs to make perfect sense in a movie like “The Idea of You” is the chemistry. The film, penned by Showalter and Jennifer Westfeldt from Robinne Lee's bestseller, takes its time in the early scenes between Solène and Hayes — first at Coachella, then when he stops by her gallery — allowing their rapport to build convincingly, and giving each actor plenty of time to smolder.

Once the steamy hotel-room encounters come in “The Idea of You,” the movie has, if not swept you away, then at least ushered you along on a European trip of sex and room service. At the same time, it stays faithful to its central mission of celebrating middle-aged womanhood. The relationship will eventually cause a social media firestorm, but its main pressure point is whether Solène can stick with Hayes after her ex-husband ( Reid Scott ) cheated on her. This is a fairy tale she deserves.

While Showalter ( "The Big Sick" ) has long showed a great gift for juggling comedy and drama at once, “The Idea of You” leans more fully into wish-fulfillment romance. That can leave less to sustain the film, which has notably neutered some of the things that distinguished the book.

The May-December romance has been shrunk a little. In the book, the singer is 20. Given that Galitzine is 29 and the 41-year-old Hathaway is no one's idea of old, this is more like a July-September relationship. In the book, the daughter (Ella Rubin) is a huge admirer of the pop singer, adding to the awkwardness, but in the movie, August Moon is “so 7th grade” to her.

There are surely more interesting and funnier places “The Idea of You" could have gone. But Hathaway and Galitzine are a good enough match that, for a couple hours, it's easy to forget.

But the most convincing thing about “The Idea of You”? August Moon. The movie nails the look and sound of boy bands so well because it went straight to the source. The original songs in the film are by Savan Kotecha and Carl Falk, the producer-songwriters of, among other pop hits, “What Makes You Beautiful," One Direction's debut single.

That connection will probably only further the sense that “The Idea of You" is very nearly “The Idea of Harry Styles.” The filmmakers have distanced the movie from any real-life resemblances. But one thing is for sure: With August Moon following 4(asterisk)Town of “Turning Red” (whose songs were penned by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell ), we are living in the golden age of the fictional boy band.

“The Idea of You,” an Amazon MGM Studios release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for some language and sexual content. Running time: 115 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

This image released by Prime shows Nicholas Galitzine, left, and Anne Hathaway in a scene from "The Idea of You." (Prime via AP)

This image released by Prime shows Nicholas Galitzine, left, and Anne Hathaway in a scene from "The Idea of You." (Prime via AP)

This image released by Prime shows Nicholas Galitzine in a scene from "The Idea of You." (Prime via AP)

This image released by Prime shows Ella Rubin, left, and Anne Hathaway in a scene from "The Idea of You." (Prime via AP)

This image released by Prime shows Nicholas Galitzine, left, and Anne Hathaway in a scene from "The Idea of You." (Prime via AP)

This image released by Prime shows Nicholas Galitzine, left, and Anne Hathaway in a scene from "The Idea of You." (Prime via AP)