Federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged the brother of late NFL star and Army Ranger Patrick Tillman with fire destruction of a U.S. post office in San Jose, California.
According to the criminal complaint, Richard Tilman, 44, set fire to the Almaden Valley U.S. Post Office on Crown Boulevard in the early hours of July 20. Tillman is alleged to have placed instalogs throughout his vehicle, doused them with lighter fluid, backed the vehicle into the post office’s lobby, got out and lit the vehicle on fire with a match.
Tillman then allegedly began spray painting the words “Viva La Me” on the outside of the building, but didn’t finish the graffiti because the heat from the fire was too intense.
San Francisco Bay area media reported that Tillman is the youngest brother of Patrick Tillman, who played for the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals and enlisted in the Army after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. He was killed fighting in Afghanistan.
The Almaden Valley post office was partially destroyed by the fire, according to the federal authorities.
Tillman told law enforcement officers that he set the fire to make a statement to the U.S. government and that he livestreamed the event on YouTube using his phone.
Tillman is currently in federal custody. He is next scheduled to appear in district court on Aug. 6, 2025, for a status conference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins.
If convicted, Tillman faces a minimum of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for malicious destruction of government property.
The San Francisco Chronicle recently wrote about Tillman’s mental health problems and examples of a downward spiral.
Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.
Write to Eric Kulisch at [email protected].
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