AUSTIN, Texas _ A man accused of stabbing four University of Texas students, leaving one of them dead on campus, told police he couldn't recall if he was the person behind Monday's attack, according to a criminal affidavit filed Wednesday in Travis County.
Kendrex White, a 21-year-old biology major who police say had been suffering from mental illness and had recently been involuntarily committed at a mental health facility, told investigators, "If I did something that I don't remember, then I want to be told," the report says.
That was the final statement White gave before he ended what appears to have been a bizarre interview that began with him saying he thought police wanted to question him about "accusations of pushing someone down and I think using a bladed weapon." White never confessed to attacking the students, saying only that it was possible that he did.
He is charged with murder in the death of Harrison Brown, a beloved 19-year-old musician who a year ago was named the most popular student on campus at Graham High School in North Texas. Online donations to Brown's family blew past a $100,000 goal on Wednesday with more than 4,000 people giving more than $135,000.
Court records show White is being held on $1 million bail. Representing him are defense attorneys Jacqueline Wood and Michael Watson, according to the Travis County district clerk's office. He is scheduled to appear May 19 in state District Judge Tamara Needles' court.
A friend of Brown's told police he was walking to Gregory Gymnasium and saw Brown coming from the opposite direction when a man matching White's description made a punching motion toward Brown's chest. The friend said he followed the man and saw him strike another person in the back of the head.
Two witnesses identified White as the attacker in a photo lineup, the affidavit says. Police say they retrieved video footage from a witness's cellphone showing White walking with a knife in his hand.
According to the affidavit, as he prepared to be questioned by officers, White removed a knife sheath from his belt and placed it on a table in the interview room. He had two superficial cuts on his left hand and wrist that appeared to be fresh and from a sharp blade. He told police he purchased a knife for protection the day before the attack and that Monday was the first time he had carried it with him.
It was UT Police Chief David Carter who confirmed that White was suffering from mental health issues prior to the attack and had been "involuntarily committed" recently somewhere outside of Austin. The affidavit states police asked White if he was hearing voices in his head. He responded that he did, and that the voices told him to "tell the truth and withhold any action that he did because it really didn't happen."
After the attack near Gregory Gym, Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services took three victims to University Medical Center Brackenridge with life-threatening injuries. Brown was found on the west entrance to the gym and was pronounced dead at 2:18 p.m., about 30 minutes after the first 911 call.
All three surviving victims told detectives that they were struck from behind and at first didn't recognize that they had been stabbed. All three also reported turning around and seeing a black man holding a knife. Two of the victims suffered lacerations to the back of their neck and head, and the third had a laceration to his back that required surgery, the affidavit says.
A UT spokeswoman said the university will release updates on the health of the surviving victims at the appropriate time.
White might have been hunting for additional victims as he walked toward the Jester dormitory, but he surrendered at the front door and dropped the knife after being commanded by an officer to get on the ground, the report states.
