ST. LOUIS — In the hours before a Chesterfield teen slammed a rented U-Haul truck into barriers outside the White House, his parents were in a panic.
Sai Kandula, a 19-year-old recent Marquette High School graduate, had told his family on May 22, 2023, that he had signed up for a construction course and was taking an Uber to class.
Instead, he went to the airport and hopped a last-minute flight to New Jersey, and then Virginia to get to Washington, D.C., his attorney wrote in a memorandum to a federal judge filed Tuesday.
His parents spent the rest of the day sending a flurry of panicked text messages:
“Please call me,†his father said, according to a screenshot of the messages.
“Can u please say ur ok,†the father wrote hours later.
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“Sai please call,†his mother pleaded. “Please please call.â€
But Kandula didn’t respond. He was in the throes of undiagnosed schizophrenic delusions, on a mission to overthrow what he believed was a puppet government installed by a reptilian race, court filings say. He had written in a notebook that he would have even killed the president if necessary.
Kandula told the FBI that his goal was to “seize power†and to “become the leader of this nation.â€
Kandula, who had no prior criminal history, pleaded guilty in May to willfully damaging U.S. property — a charge enhanced because his crimes were intended to promote terrorism, prosecutors say. Ahead of a sentencing hearing later this month, Kandula’s lawyer, prominent ºüÀêÊÓƵ attorney Scott Rosenblum, filed a memorandum outlining Kandula’s upbringing in India and the U.S.
Such memos offer courts a more complete picture of defendants, including their motivations and any factors that might mitigate their crimes.
Rosenblum described a delusional young man who had withdrawn from friends and family, struggled in school and could not keep a job. His family knew of his mental health struggles but did not know how to help, the memo states.
Ultimately, Kandula was arrested at the White House. He had a Nazi flag in his hand.
Even so, Rosenblum argues that Kandula is not a terrorist. Rather, his “plan†was an “assemblage of delusional thoughts stitched together by a common thread.â€
“He’s a 20-year-old with a serious but treatable mental illness,†the filing says.
Federal prosecutors, however, say Kandula knew exactly what he was doing: He spent weeks planning a terrorist attack and even inquired about hiring 25 armed guards and an armored convoy from a company in Virginia.
He needs to be held to account, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Schneider wrote in a filing earlier this month.
“The defendant’s plan was as dangerous as they come,†the filing states. “He wanted to eliminate the democratic process in America and replace the government with a Nazi-style dictatorship.â€
Prosecutors acknowledged his attempt was “unsophisticated†and said he was unlikely to succeed. But they compared his attack to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump and said it was still possible he could have inflicted major damage.
Rosenblum declined to comment further on the case Tuesday pending sentencing. Kandula’s parents could not immediately be reached for comment.
A history of problems
Kandula is an Indian citizen, and his family is from Hyderabad — a city of more than 10 million in the south-central part of the country.
He came to the United States as a child after his father got a job in Atlanta. The family then moved back to Hyderabad for several years before returning to the U.S. in 2015. They lived in Memphis and then relocated to ºüÀêÊÓƵ when Kandula was 14 and about to start high school, according to court filings.
In his teenage years, Kandula became withdrawn, the filing states. He spent most of his time alone or with his brother watching TV and playing chess or video games.
He floundered academically and complained about chest pains and anxiety. A doctor suggested counseling, but he was never treated, according to the filings. He began to experience vertigo and hallucinations.
After he graduated from Marquette in January 2022, he took jobs at a motel and two fast-food restaurants, but he couldn’t keep any of them for more than a week or two.
He eventually enrolled in a local college, but by then, he was experiencing dramatic changes. He grew sensitive to light and left home only for walks and school. He stopped showering or wearing clean clothes, according to the filing.
His parents noticed the changes and encouraged him to get help, but he resisted. His parents didn’t know what to do.
A plane to Washington, D.C.
At around 7 a.m. on May 22, 2023, Kandula left his home and got on a plane.
His parents tried to reach him, but he didn’t respond. By around 2 p.m., his father used a credit card tracking app and saw his son’s card had been used at the Newark airport. They tried to reach officials at the airport but learned nothing.
The family called relatives in New Jersey, Texas, California and India, but all of them told the Kandulas to wait 24 hours. Their son was an adult, and there was little the police could do until then, according to the filing.
The next morning, Kandula’s parents left their Chesterfield home for the police department, but their neighbors intercepted them, talking about a news report from the previous night about someone at the White House.
The FBI arrived within an hour. Reporters and TV cameras soon followed.
Kandula’s father booked a flight to Newark. When he reached his son on a video call from jail, Kandula said little.
“He didn’t want to talk,†the filing said.
Delusions of dictatorship
Investigators later found Kandula’s notebook, which contained pages of handwritten entries about how he would seize power and “make the world a better place†through a dictatorship.
He lists the “problems of today†in one entry, including “overpopulation of undesirables,†“over migration/open borders,†crime, “woke/cancel culture,†deforestation, pollution and economic decline, according to court filings.
He outlined an agenda that included overthrowing governments and instituting martial law. He also told an FBI agent in an interview that he believed “Nazis have a great history,†including their authoritarianism and eugenics, according to court filings.
After he was arrested, a psychologist and a medical doctor diagnosed Kandula with schizophrenia. Both believed his illness led to his conduct, Rosenblum wrote in his memo.
Federal prosecutors are asking for Kandula to be sentenced to eight years in prison, in part to deter others from taking similar action.
Rosenblum is asking for a sentence of 10-16 months time served with GPS monitoring living with his parents and undergoing treatment. His filing notes that Kandula will likely be deported back to India once his sentence is served.
A judge will ultimately decide at a hearing on Sept. 23 in Washington, D.C.