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Isaiah Peoples seemed troubled Tuesday when he talked to his mother shortly before police say he intentionally drove his Toyota Corolla into a group of pedestrians in Sunnyvale, his brother said Wednesday.
He had struggled with bouts of what might have been post-traumatic stress after serving in the Iraq War, his brother said in an interview with Bay Area News Group, but he had never acted violently — until Tuesday. His mother sensed something was wrong.
“She said the way he was sounding, he was about to have another one of those episodes,” Joshua Peoples said of his brother. “He was worried about his job, he wasn’t going to do accounting anymore.”
But it wasn’t clear why. The Defense Contract Audit Agency in Sunnyvale, where he worked as a government contract auditor, said Wednesday that Isaiah Peoples was an employee in good standing.
Shocked and saddened, Peoples’ family never saw this coming, not from the baby brother whom Joshua Peoples knew as a kind-hearted Christian, a churchgoer whose Facebook page decried elephant poaching and asked friends to donate to hungry children in honor of his birthday.
Police arrested Isaiah Joel Peoples, 34, of Sunnyvale on Tuesday evening on suspicion of driving into pedestrians on El Camino Real, injuring eight people, including a teenage girl.
“He was a model citizen, one of the most kind-hearted people I know,” said Joshua Peoples, of San Francisco.
Isaiah grew up the youngest of three children of a Christian pastor in San Francisco and the East Bay. His mother and sister now reside outside of the Bay Area.
“We were raised up religious,” Joshua Peoples said.
Isaiah went to James Logan High School in Union City and earned a degree in accounting at Sacramento State University. His brother described him as driven to succeed.
“He always tried to do better than me, and he did,” Joshua Peoples said. “He always overachieved.”
Isaiah served in Iraq for the U.S. Army during the war, his brother said.
“He was a gunner when they were driving,” his brother Joshua said. “Every time he would call us he was doing security for a post.”
After his return from duty, however, Isaiah suffered bouts of what his mother described to his brother as post-traumatic stress syndrome, and he sought treatment at a hospital. But it was something he mostly kept from his big brother, who said he heard it from their mother and sister. It is not clear whether Isaiah Peoples was ever diagnosed with PTSD.
“When he got back, I didn’t really notice too much of a change, but there were things my mom and sister told me about that they saw him going through,” his brother said. “They told me he had PTSD.”
One time, his brother said, their mother found him rocking back and forth in a corner when he visited her home.
“She was like, ‘Is anything wrong?’ and he said ‘Everything’s all right.’ ”
About four years ago, his brother said, Isaiah was treated in a mental hospital for a few months after lapsing on medications, “thinking the government was bugging his house.”
“Sometimes he’d be getting, like, overly religious going through those episodes,” his brother said. “One time, when he was going through his PTSD, they said he was saying, “I rebuke you, Satan! Get out of here, Satan!”
But his brother said he didn’t see Isaiah exhibit any signs of recent distress.
He likes to exercise, see movies and spend time with his friends and family and is active with his church in Sunnyvale, his brother said. He doesn’t drink alcohol or smoke, his brother said.
The brothers last saw each other two weeks ago for a social visit in the Sacramento area, where Joshua Peoples now lives.
“It didn’t seem like anything was wrong with him,” Joshua Peoples said. “He looked like the same person.”
The family has been in shock and has expressed sorrow for the victims.
“We do wish everybody who was injured has a speedy recovery,” Joshua Peoples said, “and we’re sorry that it happened.”
The sorrow spilled over Wednesday on Joshua Peoples Facebook page.
“Life is never gonna be the same now.”
