Former neo-Nazi told detectives he needed treatment for mental health

TAMPA (FOX 13) - A former neo-Nazi who converted to Islam and then allegedly killed his roommates because they insulted his new faith may be mentally ill, by his own admission.

The State Attorney's Office released videos of Devon Arthurs telling investigators as much during an interrogation back in May.

Thursday, his lawyers will argue before a judge that their client is unfit to stand trial.

Along with the hour of video, law enforcement released hundreds of pictures detailing the crime scene.

Arthurs is accused of shooting his roommates to death in their apartment in the Hamptons complex on Amberly Drive. Arthurs then went across the street to the Green Planet Smoke Shop, according to police, where he held employees hostage at gunpoint. One of them managed to call the police and Arthurs was arrested.

Later that night, detectives interviewed Arthurs for hours. Videos released Tuesday show detectives talking with Arthurs around 1 a.m. on May 20.

"If I could go back and do something over, I would sign myself into a hospital," Arthurs tells the detectives. "And work on my anger issues and rational thinking skills."

According to Arthurs, he and his roommates previously shared neo-Nazi beliefs until Arthurs converted to Islam. Since converting, he became angered by the world's anti-Muslim sentiment. 

"They knew how to build bombs that could have destroyed this entire building," Arthurs said of his roommates, Jeremy Himmelman, 22, and Andrew Oneschuk, 18.

Along with Himmelman and Oneschuk's bodies, police found guns, military gear, maps, bomb-making kits, a North Korean flag, and copies of Adolf Hitler's autobiography.

"The things they were planning were horrible. They were planning bombings on countless people, they were planning to kill civilian life," Arthurs told detectives. "Power lines, nuclear reactors, synagogues, things like that."

Investigators also found a Koran.

"I was wrong in what I believed about those people," Arthurs said of Muslims. "I was wrong about how I felt about certain races of people. I realized there's no point in having anger and hatred."

Arthurs also described how a fourth roommate, Brandon Russell, led Atomwaffen, a neo-Nazi group. 

He also promised to sit down with an FBI agent and explain how white supremacists operate.

"I think it would open some eyes to a much bigger thing than happened today," he said. "I could definitely save a lot of lives overall."

During the 90-minute interview, Arthurs makes clear he knows his future is now in the hands of others.

"I am very prone to getting angry a lot. I might be sick in that sense. I want to get help for that," Arthurs said. "I would much rather be at a mental hospital, where I should have been."

Parts of the video showing Arthurs describe the day of his roommates' deaths are redacted.

Russell was sentenced earlier this month to five years for having bomb-making materials.