A 62-year-old man crashed into a restaurant, killing his daughter and daughter-in-law Sunday after excusing himself from the family's lunch, and was arrested for murder in North Carolina Monday.
Roger Glenn Self, of Dallas, North Carolina, is being held on two charges of first-degree murder, the Gaston County Sheriff's Office said, AFP reported.
According to the Gaston Gazette, Self was seated with his family at the Surf and Turf Lodge in Bessemer City, near Dallas, on Sunday when he excused himself.
Self went to his car and drove at full speed straight into the table where his family was sitting, it said.
"I saw a white Jeep just fly right past my face," a waiter, Brandon Wilson, was quoted as saying.
"It was so unreal," Wilson said. "I saw chairs and tables and cups just flying everywhere. It just sounded like a tornado."
Self's daughter, Katelyn Self, 26, a deputy with the Gaston County Sheriff's Office, died in the crash along with Self's daughter-in-law, Amanda Self, a nurse, the newspaper said.
Roger Self's wife, Diane, was seriously injured along with their son, Josh Self, a police officer, and their granddaughter, the 13-year-old daughter of Josh and Amanda Self.
The Gaston Gazette quoted friends of Roger Self, who owned a private investigation company, as saying that he had recently been battling mental illness and depression.
"He was trying to get help," Austin Rammell, the pastor of the church which Self attended, was quoted as saying.
"We were trying to steer him toward help," Rammell said.