A 44-year-old man told a Compton courtroom last week that he was having a mental breakdown on the day he shot and killed his 65-year-old stepfather and 13-year-old stepsister, prosecutors said.

The man, Jamie Williams, was a former employee of Cal State Long Beach and had sparked a police search when he appeared on campus Sept. 28, 2018, hours before he killed his two family members and also wounded another relative before reportedly running naked from their home in Compton.

Last month, Williams pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office. On Feb. 20, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, avoiding the possibility of a death sentence, Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Wallace said.

At his sentencing, Williams apologized and asked the victims’ family to forgive him, saying “nothing justifies what I did,” according to Wallace, although he said he was experiencing a mental breakdown that day.

“We don’t know what his motive is,” Wallace said. “Family members who spoke stated that they had spoken to [Williams] earlier in the day and everything seemed fine.”

Wallace said Williams had some sort of argument with his stepfather before the shooting, but it’s not entirely clear what it was about.

Williams’ presence at CSULB that day was unrelated to the murders, Wallace said, but he was having issues with his girlfriend and the university. Williams is a former maintenance worker for CSULB’s Associated Students, Inc. and campus officials suspected Williams was romantically involved with high-ranking CSULB administrator, Carmen Taylor, who was fired shortly after Williams’ arrest, according to court documents.

Taylor alleged in a lawsuit that Williams stalked and threatened her shortly before the deadly shooting, causing officials to link him to her.