Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas — The University of Texas student accused of stabbing four students, one fatally, told police he didn’t remember attacking anyone, according to an arrest affidavit.
Kendrex J. White, who authorities have said suffered from mental health troubles, was charged with murder in Monday’s campus attack. He remained in jail Thursday on $1 million bond. Attorneys listed for him didn’t immediately return messages left Thursday.
The affidavit said after White, 21, was taken into custody he agreed to talk. When asked if he knew why he was there, he said, “Yes, accusations of pushing someone down and I think using a bladed weapon.”
When asked if he was hearing voices in his head, White said his mind told him to “tell the truth and withhold any action that he did because it really didn’t happen,” according to the affidavit.
White told police it was possible he used a knife to hit someone but that he didn’t remember, the affidavit said. White said he had bought a knife several days earlier for protection but Monday was the first day he carried it, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit said White stopped the interview and said: “If I did something I don’t remember then I want to be told.”
Harrison Brown was the first person to be stabbed as White struck a path across a plaza in the heart of the campus. The affidavit said the freshman died from a stab wound to the chest.
Lori Brown told the television station KXAN that she had talked with her son on the phone a few minutes earlier and he told her he had just played basketball and was headed to a food truck. The next call she got from his phone was from a female student.
“And she said, ‘Are you Harrison’s mom?’ and you could tell there was something bad going on at the other end,” Lori Brown said.
The woman didn’t know Harrison Brown but was nearby when he was stabbed.
“She was coming out of the door — he was holding his hand over his chest and there was blood coming out of his chest. He had held the phone out and said, ‘Call my mom,’” Lori Brown said.
At a news conference Tuesday, authorities said White suffered from mental health troubles and had been involuntarily committed for treatment in another city. University Police Chief David Carter said White was “obviously” suffering from some kind of mental difficulties, but he did not elaborate on White’s condition or treatment.
Before the attacks, White was seen in the student activity center “appearing normal,” Carter said. As he left there, he kicked a woman as if to get her out of his way, the police chief said.