After an hours-long standoff with authorities that forced the evacuation of parts of the federal complex, a North Carolina man who claimed to be carrying a bomb in a pickup truck parked near the US Capitol surrendered calmly to police.
Floyd Ray Roseberry, 49, was identified as the suspect by US Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger, who crawled from the crowded cab of his pickup, ending an extraordinary confrontation - some of which was live-streamed on Facebook by the suspect.
Roseberry had lately suffered personal losses, according to Manger, and was coping with "other challenges" at the time of the incident. The chief stated that detectives were still looking for any probable explosive devices in Roseberry's truck, implying that the search could take several hours.
Manger said officials first saw the vehicle at 9:15 a.m. Thursday after Roseberry claimed to have a device and what appeared to be a detonator in his hand and drove it on the street outside the Library of Congress building, USA Today reported.
Roseberry live broadcast at least part of the standoff with police on Facebook, when he made repeated appeals to President Joe Biden, alluded to an impending "revolution," and warned of four more devices concealed throughout the city. Roseberry was identified in the video by police.
Man in a pickup truck yells "bomb" near the Capitol
Per The Independent, an eyewitness said she observed a man in a black pickup vehicle in front of the Library of Congress yelling "bomb" and throwing dollar bills out the window. After a man in a pickup truck threatened to detonate an explosive device near the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, Capitol police reacted to an "active bomb threat investigation."
"Come out here and talk to me Joe, America is tired of it," the suspect said. On Thursday morning, the neighborhood surrounding the Capitol Hill Library was evacuated, and residents were advised to avoid the area.
Sydney Bobb, a 22-year-old UW-Madison student, said she was on her way to a race in politics class near the Library of Congress at 9.25 a.m. when she noticed a man in a black pickup truck shouting that he had a bomb. To communicate with authorities, the suspect in the truck is using a dry-erase whiteboard. The North Carolina man also uploaded several videos to Facebook before they were taken down by the social media platform.
Since a crowd of thousands of Donald Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6 in an attempt to prevent lawmakers from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election, Capitol Hill security has been beefed up. A pipe bomb was left at the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee buildings in Washington the day before the uprising.
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The January 6 Capitol riot prompted high security
Following the riots on January 6, around 25,000 National Guards were stationed around the US Capitol to ensure security for President Joe Biden's inauguration. Thousands of National Guard troops have been stationed there for months, despite the potential of political violence.
Officer William Evans of the Capitol Police Department was killed and another officer was injured when a vehicle hit them at the heavily guarded northern entrance to the US Capitol on April 2. Noah Green, a 25-year-old Indiana man, was shot and died.
The Library of Congress is the world's largest library, located near the US Capitol and the Supreme Court. On Thursday morning, staff at the Library received a security warning informing them of the bomb threat.
The US House of Representatives and Senate were not in session on Thursday, so the Capitol complex was comparatively quiet. As fire and rescue vehicles and federal officials arrived on the scene, police closed off routes surrounding the Capitol complex.
The US Supreme Court, as well as other nearby facilities, were evacuated. After the January 6 incident, high-security fencing was installed in the area, but it was removed by mid-July, as per Strait Times.
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