Suspect arrested for crashing car into post office is reportedly Pat Tillman's brother

Chuck Schilken, Los Angeles Times on Jul 21, 2025

Published in Football

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LOS ANGELES — A man being held in custody in connection with a vehicle driven into a Northern California post office on Sunday morning is reportedly the brother of late NFL star and U.S. Army Ranger Pat Tillman.

“Shortly after 3 a.m. yesterday, the San Jose Fire and Police Departments responded to reports of a vehicle on fire in the box lobby area at the Almaden Valley Station Post Office,” the United States Postal Inspection Service said in a statement emailed on Monday to The Los Angeles Times.

“The fire was extinguished with no injuries. Police took one person into custody. The person in police custody is named Richard Tillman, who is reported to be the brother of Pat. Postal inspectors are investigating the incident as a potentially intentional act.”

In an email to The Times on Monday, the San Jose Police Department confirmed that officers responded to a report of a fire at the post office at that date and time.

“When officers arrived on scene, they discovered a vehicle had been driven into the post office and caught fire causing the entire building to catch on fire,” the police department stated. “No injuries were reported.”

The department also confirmed that “the suspect arrested in relation to the US Post Office fire was 44 year old, Richard of San Jose. He was subsequently booked into the Santa Clara county jail for arson. The motive and circumstances are still under investigation.”

According to to the Santa Clara County Sheriff Office’s inmate locator, Richard is being held on a $60,000 bond and has a court hearing scheduled for Wednesday.

NBC Bay Area is reporting that the suspect told officers on the scene that he is Pat’s brother. The station also reports that the suspect live-streamed the incident on social media.

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Pat famously walked away from a three-year, $3.6-million contract offer from the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the Army, along with another brother, Kevin.

On April 22, 2004, Pat was killed by friendly fire in the province of Khost, Afghanistan. Richard spoke at his brother’s public memorial service on May 4, 2004, at the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden.

Last week, the San Francisco Chronicle reports, Richard had posted an 11-minute video onto YouTube in which he stated he would “take down the system,” including the U.S. government. His YouTube channel has since been removed, the Chronicle reports, but previously contained several videos “posted in recent months documenting his own apparent unraveling.”

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