Apr 12, 2005

Ex-NFL Player Saw Siegfried, Roy As Threat

LAS VEGAS - A former pro football player accused of shooting at the compound of Siegfried & Roy wanted to "warn the world" of the threat posed by the illusionists, according to a psychiatric report.



The evaluation was performed by psychiatrist Norton Roitman after Cole Ford was charged with firing several shotgun blasts at the Las Vegas home of entertainers Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn.


Ford, 32, a former kicker for the Oakland Raiders, has been ruled incompetent to stand trial and sent to a mental health facility for treatment.


Ford maintained he never intended to harm anyone and his actions were intended to "warn the world of the illusionists' unhealthy danger to them and to animals," according to the report published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.


"While watching Siegfried and Roy, he had a sudden realization that what was wrong with the world was linked to the illusionists' treatment, dominance and unhealthy intimacy he saw them having with their animals," Roitman wrote.


Ford told Roitman that he thought the entertainers' contact with their animals was sexual and related to the development of viruses such as AIDS.


"He felt they threatened (the) world, and he began to figure out how he could stop them," Roitman said.


No one was hurt in the Sept. 21 drive-by shooting, but police said shotgun pellets shattered windows and left a hole in an outside wall at the magicians' home.


Roitman said Ford was not paranoid schizophrenic but had shown symptoms of the illness. Ford had been working as a laborer in the Las Vegas area before he was arrested.