{"id":362043,"date":"2026-08-04T01:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T01:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/362043\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T01:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T01:14:10","slug":"orlando-shooter-jaylen-edgar-asks-judge-to-weigh-mental-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/362043\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando shooter Jaylen Edgar asks judge to weigh mental state"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Jaylen Edgar, the man accused of the 2024 downtown Orlando Halloween shooting<\/a>, has written the Judge in his case, asking the court to consider his mental state at the time of the shooting.<\/p>\n

In the handwritten letter, which was filed on July 29, Edgar asked the court to consider the emotional state he was in at the time of the shooting. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was suffering from extreme mental or emotional distrubance that significently affected my ability to think clearly, manage my emotions, and make sound decisions,\u201d Edgar wrote. \u201cI reacted in a way that I deeply regret.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edgar is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of 25-year-old Tyrek Hill and 19-year-old Timothy Schmidt<\/a> after he fired into a crowded downtown Orlando street. Seven others were injured. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jaylen Edgar (WFTV)<\/p>\n

Edgar\u2019s trial was to begin in January, but was delayed after the judge was forced to order Edgar to get another mental evaluation<\/a>, as reported by Channel 9. <\/p>\n

Edgar, at the time, had written the court saying he wanted to pursue a defense of not guilty by reason of insanity. A second evaluation was completed in April.<\/p>\n

Edgar\u2019s letter went on to say that since the shootings, he has \u201ctaken steps to better understand and manage\u201d his emotions. He is \u201ccommitted to making positive changes\u201d in his life by learning healthier ways to cope with stress and by making sure he \u201cdoes not make similar mistakes in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edgar concluded that he had recently been baptized and expressed remorse for what had happened.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

TOP STORIES FROM WFTV CHANNEL 9<\/p>\n

\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Jaylen Edgar, the man accused of the 2024 downtown Orlando Halloween shooting, has written the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,56792,141,140],"class_list":["post-362043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-downtown-halloween-shooting","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}