COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Fort Jackson trainee who's accused of kidnapping a bus full of children may have feared for his family's safety before leaving his post, according to comments made during a court proceeding.
Jovan Collazo's attorney, the prosecution, and an investigator in the case were in court for a preliminary hearing Thursday afternoon. Collazo himself waived his right to appear. The proceeding was to determine if there was probable cause to let the case go to circuit court, which the judge ultimately determined there was.
Post officials say Collazo, who was in his third week of basic training, ran away his barrack at Fort Jackson on the morning of May 6 with his unloaded military rifle and jumped the base's perimeter. Investigators say just before 7:30 a.m., Collazo made it to a bus stop near Percival Road, where a group of students were boarding the bus to go to Forest Lake Elementary in Richland School District Two. A total of 18 children and a driver were aboard.
Investigators say Collazo pointed his gun at the driver and demanded to be driven to the next town. According to deputies, Collazo told the students and driver he didn't want to hurt anyone.
A short distance down the road, officers say Collazo told everyone to get off and attempted to continue driving it himself, but got frustrated and abandoned the vehicle a few miles away. Officers caught up with him and took him into custody.
During Thursday hearing, Collazo's attorney, Fielding Pringle, asked Richland County Investigator Brad Maxwell about what Collazo told him while in custody. When asked by her if Collazo was worried about something when he left the base, Maxwell said that Collazo had claimed he'd been in some type of fight with a man up in New Jersey before coming to the base. Maxwell said Collazo "had a fear someone was coming to hurt him" and that he was worried about his family.
"I believe he was going back to New Jersey to protect his family from this individual," Maxwell said.
Pringle also had Maxwell give other information about the sequence of events and comments made by Collazo, much of which had been previously given by law enforcement.
Collazo faces 19 counts of kidnapping, as well as a charge of armed robbery, among other counts.