ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The man facing murder charges in the Halloween 2024 downtown Orlando mass shooting wrote to the judge in his upcoming trial, criticizing his attorney and asking for another mental-health evaluation.
The trial of Jaylen Edgar, 18, is scheduled to begin Monday after jury selection starts Thursday, records show.
Edgar is accused of opening fire in a crowd of people celebrating Halloween in downtown Orlando, killing two of them — 25-year-old Tyrek Hill and 19-year-old Timothy Schmidt Jr. — and wounding seven others.
He faces charges of possession of a firearm by a minor, culpable negligence with personal injury, two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted first-degree murder. Edgar was 17 when the shooting occurred and was charged as as adult.
[MORE: New documents give insight into fatal downtown Orlando mass shooting]
In a handwritten letter filed Tuesday and penned to “your Honor,” Edgar alleged conflict of counsel and claimed he was being ineffectively represented on purpose, by his attorney, amid his struggle to explain the ”intrusive thoughts and mental state of surreality” he claims to have experienced on the night of the shooting.
Edgar also claims that the state has been trying to force a plea deal upon him, stating he doesn’t want to discuss any offers until he’s ”explored all of (his) defensive options.”
“Clearly, in the state’s efforts to force-feed a 50-year plea deal down my throat opposed to the threat of natural life in the department of corrections, my attorney has deliberately failed to include reasonable hypothesis of my mental state of psychosis during the alleged commission of the crime,” Edgar wrote, going on to call for another mental-health evaluation “to explore the reasonable hypothesis of incompetency.”
The families of the two victims who died have since filed suit against the city and the operator of Wall Street Plaza, the latter of whom sought distance from the litigation in the owner’s comments to News 6 that the incident didn’t happen on their property. Plaintiffs allege failures related to things such as security, training, and lighting.
[WATCH: Families of Orlando Halloween mass shooting victims file suit ‘to get answers’]
The city made changes in the aftermath of the shooting to end downtown Orlando’s “street-party atmosphere,” in large part by opening Orange Avenue and its side streets to regular traffic during the night.
This found itself paired with a city ordinance in place since May 2023 that requires certain bars to pay for police protection. It was part of a crackdown on crime following violence downtown in the years leading up, unmoved as a judge in September dismissed a lawsuit filed by several downtown bars for monetary damages and a permanent injunction against the ordinance.
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