HIT-AND-RUN SPREE Father says he tried to help son

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- The father of a man accused of going on a deadly hit-and-run rampage said he repeatedly warned mental health officials that his son was a danger to himself and others.
Abdullah El-Amin Shareef, 25, is charged with first-degree murder and three counts of first-degree attempted murder stemming from the hit-and-runs, in which five pedestrians were struck. One victim was killed, and another was critically injured.
Authorities said Shareef stole a Fayetteville city-owned van, then a truck, and drove across three counties seeking out pedestrians.
Mental hospital
The younger Shareef was held without bond and taken to Dorothea Dix Hospital, the state's mental hospital.
"That's not the son I raised," Abdullah Shareef, 70, said by phone from a friend's home in Raeford late Wednesday. "He was an academically gifted child, a disciplined child. He has definitely always had a great respect for people."
Shareef said his son had in recent years been troubled by psychological problems, family troubles and drug use.
He said the younger Shareef had been living at a Salvation Army shelter in Fayetteville for the past week, after a three-day stint at Dix Hospital in December and two short jail terms.
"He's had some difficulties," Shareef said. "We tried to help him."