Three followers of social media influencer Rashad Jamal and his cult-like group have been accused of two separate murders in Alabama. Jamal is currently in prison.
first reported, Jamal says he has been"detained since May 3." In the recording, he calls human bodies"avatars" and relays the belief that humans are perfect upon conception but injected with"nanobot technology" at birth and placed under a lockdown with"social programming through sex, violence and drugs and movies and music."
Alyza Berman, founder and clinical director of The Berman Center, a psychotherapy and mental health treatment center in Atlanta, says that online relationships, because they are"intangible," often have a"surreal" aspect to them that can then translate into real-life obsession. Washam fled the scene and refused to stop as authorities chased him, according to the Mobile County Sheriff's Office. Saraland police set up spike strips that ultimately ended the pursuit. Mobile County Capt. Paul Burch told The Associated Press that Washam"had absolutely no remorse whatsoever and that’s probably the most shocking part of it."
At first, Washam was"feeling good because I thought he was done with the gaming," he told Motherboard."But I didn't know that these videos he was watching were as crazy as they are. My son started doing some crazy-ass stuff."Krystal Diane Pinkins, 36, and Yasmine Hider, 20, are charged with first-degree murder in the Aug. 14 killing of 22-year-old Adam Simjee of Apopka, Florida, as well as multiple counts of robbery and kidnapping in Clay County, Alabama.
The pair pulled over when they saw Hider, who appeared to be having trouble with her car. When they could not fix her car after about 30 minutes, Hider allegedly attempted to rob the couple at gunpoint while Pinkins watched from the woods. Simjee, who had his own gun, pulled out his weapon and ordered Hider to drop hers, at which point Hider allegedly fired at Simjee, and he fired back WBRC reported.