Conflicting Stories In Deadly Hit And Run Spree

Aug. 30 - KGO (KGO) -- ABC7 has new information about the man accused of Tuesday's deadly hit and run rampage, including his intended target when he climbed behind the wheel.

Omeed Aziz Popal is accused of killing a man with his car in Fremont and then heading to San Francisco where more than a dozen others were run down.

Popal was transported from the San Francisco County Jail, where he was under suicide watch, to San Francisco General Hospital's psych ward Wednesday.

His interrogation lasted through the evening and police are trying to determine what is fact and what is fiction.

Popal gave conflicting stories to investigators. He first told them he had killed his parents Monday night. He then changed his story and said he was going to kill them after the street rampage.

And ABC7 has learned Popal told police during the interrogation that when he started driving, he was looking for a cop to kill but he couldn't find one, so that's when he randomly began running over pedestrians.

He also told investigators he had stabbed someone to death five years ago. Fremont police tell ABC7 that Popal walked into their office a month ago and made a startling claim.

Det. Bill Veteran, Fremont police dept: "He came in and wanted to confess to a homicide that he committed up in San Francisco a couple of years ago so we of course got in touch with the San Francisco investigators and absolutely nothing he said matched up with anything they had."

The family has retained attorney Majeed Samora to represent Popal. He says his client is mentally unstable and may be telling wild stories.

Majeed Samora, suspect's attorney: "He was admitted to Kaiser Hospital in the past six months. He stayed there until he was stabilized a little bit."

Samora also says Popal was having other undiagnosed health problems.

Majeed Samora, suspect's attorney: "He passed out in the past about four to five times because of not being able to breathe properly."

Relatives say Popal was married in Afghanistan in an arranged marriage. His wife has applied for a visa. A cousin says issues relating to his marriage may have been bothering him.

Meantime, Popal is being held on 14 counts of attempted murder stemming from his hit and run rampage.

His first victim, a pedestrian who was hit when he was walking in Fremont, has been identified as 54-year-old Steven Wilson. Alameda County prosecutors are in the process of charging him with that homicide.

Popal will be charged with crimes in San Francisco and Alameda counties. The question is how to prosecute the cases. The District Attorney's are trying to figure out which county will go first.

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