The US Capitol Police arrested a person Wednesday after he allegedly tried to set his automobile on hearth close to the Capitol as President-elect Donald Trump was visiting Republican lawmakers and paying his respects to late former President Jimmy Carter.
The disturbing incident unfolded in entrance of the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial simply earlier than 5:30 p.m. – on the similar time Trump, 78, was arriving on the Capitol Constructing.
Officers had been alerted to a person who had parked in entrance of the memorial earlier than setting a bag on high of his automobile ablaze, Capitol Police stated.
The bag “extinguished on its own” as officers rushed over to the automobile and positioned the person underneath arrest.
Capitol Police’s Hazardous Incident Response Division inspected the automobile and decided that it was not a hazard by 7 p.m.
Authorities stated the automobile had been spray-painted and investigators discovered accelerants contained in the bag.
The motive force of the automobile, an unidentified 35-year-old Virginia man, was arrested for illegal actions, in accordance with Capitol Police.
The person’s motive has not been decided however police stated there was not an ongoing risk.
The Day by day Wire reported that the person was first noticed by a grounds crew employee, who noticed him making an attempt to mild one thing on hearth in his automobile.
The person reportedly advised the employee: “I have napalm and I’m trying to light it on fire.”
The incident got here simply hours after Capitol Police arrested 44-year-old Mel J. Horne for allegedly making an attempt to sneak a machete and three knives into the US Capitol Customer Heart.
The weapons had been found by officers working an X-ray scanner on the entrance to the legislative complicated.
Horne was charged with a number of counts of carrying a harmful weapon.
Capitol Police indicated that they don’t consider the 2 incidents are linked.
“Twice today our officers stopped a man who could have been a danger to the Capitol Hill community,” Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger stated in an announcement.
“This vigilance is critical during this time of heightened security,” he added.
Trump is ready to be inaugurated because the forty seventh president of the US on Jan. 20.
