The US Capitol Police arrested a person Wednesday after he allegedly tried to set his automotive 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 identical time Trump, 78, was arriving on the Capitol Constructing.
Officers have been alerted to a person who had parked in entrance of the memorial earlier than setting a bag on high of his car ablaze, Capitol Police mentioned.
The bag “extinguished by itself” as officers rushed over to the automotive and positioned the person beneath arrest.
Capitol Police’s Hazardous Incident Response Division inspected the car and decided that it was not a hazard by 7 p.m.
Authorities mentioned the automotive had been spray-painted and investigators discovered accelerants contained in the bag.
The motive force of the automotive, an unidentified 35-year-old Virginia man, was arrested for illegal actions, in response to Capitol Police.
The person’s motive has not been decided however police mentioned there was not an ongoing menace.
The Every day Wire reported that the person was first noticed by a grounds crew employee, who noticed him making an attempt to gentle one thing on hearth in his automotive.
The person reportedly informed the employee: “I’ve napalm and I’m making an attempt to gentle it on hearth.”
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 Middle.
The weapons have 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 related.
“Twice at present our officers stopped a person who might have been a hazard to the Capitol Hill group,” Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger mentioned in a press release.
“This vigilance is essential throughout this time of heightened safety,” he added.
Trump is ready to be inaugurated because the forty seventh president of the US on Jan. 20.
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