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A man who threatened to set off a bomb on Capitol Hill surrendered to police Thursday, ending an hours-long standoff that rattled lawmakers still shaken by January’s pro-Trump insurrection.
The incident triggered evacuations and a massive police response. It sent jolts of anxiety through a city that has spent months on alert as political tensions soared following the deadly Capitol insurrection.
The suspect, an apparent right-wing extremist, identified by US Capitol Police as Floyd Ray Roseberry from North Carolina, had been broadcasting live on social media from his truck, assailing President Joe Biden and Democrats, warning of a “revolution,” and complaining about the US government and its policy in Afghanistan.
He had also claimed that four more sets of explosives were lying in wait in Washington and that they would be detonated, along with his bomb, if police used deadly force against him.
Much of the complex was blocked off as police and FBI agents negotiated with the driver, who police said had appeared to have a detonator in his hand.
“He got out of the vehicle and surrendered, and the tactical units that were close by took him into custody without incident,” US Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger told reporters.
Law enforcement was still investigating whether the vehicle, which was parked on the sidewalk next to the Library of Congress, contained actual explosives.
Manger said it was unclear what Roseberry’s motives were, but he issued a series of incoherent threats in his Facebook Live stream and asked to speak to President Biden.
“I’m trying to get Joe Biden on the phone. I’m parked up here on the sidewalk right beside all this pretty stuff,” said Roseberry.
“I’m not hurting nobody, Joe. I’m not pulling the trigger on this thing. I can’t,” he said. “I’m telling you, them snipers come in, they start shooting this window out, this bomb’s going off.”
While it remained unclear whether the bomb threat was genuine, the Library of Congress’s main buildings were evacuated, as was the nearby US Supreme Court and at least one of the three House office buildings.
Both the Senate and House of Representatives are currently on recess, but some lawmakers have remained in Washington, and staffers are working in the complex.
House Democrat Bill Pascrell offered fierce condemnation of the suspect during the standoff, in comments that echoed the trauma of the insurrection which rocked the Capitol in January.
“A right-wing extremist is now threatening to detonate a bomb at the US Capitol,” he tweeted. “Right-wing domestic terrorism is a threat to every community in the United States.”
In April, a man rammed a car into Capitol barriers, killing one officer before the attacker was shot and killed.
