Former Fort Jackson Trainee Found Not Guilty in School Bus Hijacking by Reason of Insanity

driver's side of school bus
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Jovan Collazo, 25, will spend 120 days in a facility picked by the South Carolina Department of Mental Health.

A former Fort Jackson recruit that was charged with hijacking a school bus with children on it has been found not guilty by a judge on the basis of insanity. 

In an incident that occurred in May of 2021, Jovan Collazo, 25, left Fort Jackson with an unloaded gun, which he used to hijack a school bus that had 18 children on board and the bus driver, according to WJCL.

All children and the bus driver were unharmed, Richland County Sheriff’s Office said.

Collazo was charged with 19 counts of kidnapping armed robbery with a deadly weapon, carjacking, pointing and presenting firearms at a person, carrying weapons on school property, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, according to jail records. 

Two separate evaluations were done and determined that Collazo suffered from a mental disorder that made it difficult for him to distinguish moral and legal right from wrong, according to WIS-TV.

Since he was found to have exhibited schizophrenic tendencies when he was arrested and during the evaluations, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity, WJCL reported.

Collazo will spend 120 days in a facility picked by the South Carolina Department of Mental Health before he returns to court to re-evaluate his custody status, according to WIS-TV.

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