'I wanted to kill them all!': Suspect in Times Square SUV attack faces trial

31-year-old Richard Rojas began facing trial on Monday in New York for his role in the 2017 crash in Times Square that killed 18-year-old Alyssa Elsman and injured twenty-two other people. He faces a count of murder for the deceased as well as counts of attempted murder over those he injured.

Prosecutors told a jury on Monday that Rojas first words to a traffic cop after the attack were "I want to kill them all!" Apparently he was high on PCP-laced marijuana at the time of the deadly attack.

He initially pleaded not guilty and has been housed at Rikers Island jail facility in the interim leading up to these proceedings which now begin after several years of delays.

As outlined by the Daily Mail, while Rojas’s defense attorney is aiming to push the mental health angle on a jury in a Manhattan courtroom, the prosecution’s argument is that previous statements made by the suspect indicated self-awareness.

"This is a case about a 26-year-old who lost his mind," argued Enrico DeMarco. The counter by prosecutor Alfred Peterson was that it was impossible for Rojas "not to know exactly what was happening. But he didn’t stop."

The first witness, according to Stripes.com, was Ava Elsman. She was 13 years old when she was injured in the attack, and the injuries she accrued ranged from a collapsed lung, a broken leg, and several broken ribs. Ava described to the jury that exact moment in hospital that she learned her sister Alyssa didn’t survive.

"When there were no words, I knew exactly what happened," Ava described about her mother’s silence. "There was a whole piece of my life that was ripped out that I’ll never get back."

Around 11:54 am on May 18th, 2017, a 26-year-old Rojas allegedly drove onto the Times Square sidewalk, ramming his vehicle into pedestrians throughout. This went on for roughly three blocks before he crashed his car into a barrier, and climbed out onto the street, waving his arms at horrified bystanders.

The Honda Accord that Richard Rojas used in the Times Square crash had been equipped with a speed detector as a result of a previous drunk-driving arrest.

While the suspect told police he wanted to kill people that day, Rojas also alleged he smoked PCP-laced marijuana.

The mental health history of Richard Rojas was previously explored by media outlets at the time of the suspect’s initial arrest. In the weeks leading up to the Times Square tragedy, Rojas pleaded guilty to harassment over a situation where he pulled out a knife on a notary when the official showed up at his home. "You're trying to steal my identity," Rojas allegedly said to the victim.

Further, according to the New York Times’s previous background of the defendant: Richard Rojas first enlisted in the Navy in July 2011. After a stint serving on the USS Carney, and receiving a promotion, Rojas was stationed in Jacksonville, Florida, by September 2012. It was at the Naval Station Mayport where he was arrested. He ended up attacking a cab driver and got into an altercation with a police officer. "My life is over!" is what Rojas screamed at the time of his arrest.

The report also said that Rojas "to kill all police and military police he might see after he is released from jail." He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in a court-martial trial, among other things, and was demoted alongside being jailed for a few months before being formally discharged in 2014.

The trial is expected to last several weeks.