David Douglas, Suspected Antioch Kidnapper, Speaks From Jail: “I Did Take This Little Girl”

The man accused of kidnapping a 7-year-old Antioch girl at gunpoint in front of her house spoke from jail on Tuesday, telling NBC Bay Area that he spent three days looking for the "easiest kidnap victim" and "came close" to trying to kidnap three others.

In a sometimes tearful jailhouse interview at the Contra Costa County Jail in Martinez, 43-year-old David Douglas, of Antioch, called the kidnapping a cry for help, claiming people from the government have been following him for years and told him to do it.

"I did take this little girl, but it was not to hurt her in any way shape or form," Douglas said. "I took her because it was arranged for me to take her. I didn't know what I was going to do with her but I know it was not to harm her in any way."

Douglas said he "welcomes a psychological evaluation," while he also told NBC Bay Area that he has "been under surveillance by some department of the government by the United States" for the last four years.

Douglas was arrested on kidnapping charges stemming from the abduction Friday of a 7-year-old girl after he followed her home from Wal-Mart, where she had been shopping with her mother. Police say he took her from her mother at gunpoint.

"As you can imagine her mother was clearly upset, I was upset," Douglas said, before wiping away tears talking about his own family. "I want it to be known I have a 7-year-old son myself."

MORE: Abducted 7-Year-Old Antioch Girl Found Safe, Suspect Arrested

Douglas is being held on $4 million bail and has not yet been assigned an attorney. How his mental state will play into the case has yet to be revealed.

The girl was eventually found later Friday night with Douglas, who was arrested on Marina Place about a block away from the police department.

Douglas said Tuesday that he had given the girl a blanket and a pillow for her to lay down and had been just about to ask her what she needed when the police arrived.

Douglas began to describe what he did the night the girl was kidnapped, and then broke off into sentences that didn't completely make sense.

"I followed them to their house," Dougals said. "When the situatuon presented itself to me that was most easy because all the situations they presented to me before that were way to difficult I refused because I didn't want to harm anybody I didn't want to scare anyone."

He did show empathy, however, and shared some of his own feelings during the kidnap.

"When I picked her up she told me she was scared, and I said, 'I'm scared, too,' '' Douglas recounted tearfully. "We were both shaking, we were both shaking."

So, to calm both of them down, Douglas said he tried to talk about the same things he would talk about with his son, cartoons and food, and he took her to McDonald's while waiting for "another sign from 'them' on what I was supposed to do next."

While he said he didn't intend to make the girl afraid, he did acknowledge taking her.

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,” Douglas said, “but I need some help too.”