Police arrest man who threatened to bomb U.S. Capitol

Police officers man a police barricade while responding to a bomb threat near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., August 19, 2021. REUTERS/Gabrielle Crockett

WASHINGTON — A man who claimed to have a bomb in a pickup truck and threatened to detonate it near the U.S. Capitol surrendered to police on Thursday after a standoff that paralyzed a swath of Washington for more than five hours.

Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger told reporters that the man, identified as Floyd Ray Roseberry, parked his vehicle on a sidewalk outside the U.S. Library of Congress at about 9:15 a.m. EDT (1315 GMT) and told an officer who approached him that he had a bomb while holding what appeared to be a detonator.

Police shut down streets and evacuated nearby buildings as they negotiated with Roseberry, 49.

“He gave up and did not resist and our folks were able to take him into custody without incident,” Manger said.

Police did not say whether he had any explosives.

A video livestreamed on Facebook showed Roseberry, a bald white man with a goatee, speaking inside a black truck parked on a sidewalk.

“The revolution’s on, it’s here,” Roseberry said in the video, while appearing to hold a large metal cannister on his lap. “I’m ready to die for the cause.”

His ex-wife, Crystal Roseberry, told Reuters that he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and had threatened her with firearms in the past. She said she divorced him about eight years ago.

“He’s crazy. He pulled a gun on me and his sister, and shot at me numerous times,” said the woman.

Facebook removed Roseberry’s profile and deactivated the livestream after several hours.

Police said they did not know his motive.

Federal agents raided his home in Grover, North Carolina, during the standoff in the U.S. capital.

Neighbors described Roseberry as a Republican who was known to occasionally wear a red “MAGA” hat to show his support for former President Donald Trump. He also criticized Democrats on social media.

They said Roseberry would set off explosives in his yard and disrupt deer hunters by shooting his gun repeatedly.

Benjamin Christopher told Reuters the explosions upset him and his wife, who both served in Afghanistan.

“Me and my wife, we’re both Afghanistan vets, and we have both been injured in Afghanistan via bombs, so it wasn’t setting too well with my wife with him doing that,” he said.

The drama in Washington unfolded in an area that had been surrounded by a high-security fence after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. The fence was removed in mid-July.

The normally busy Capitol complex was relatively deserted on Thursday, with the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate out of session.

Police blocked off roads surrounding the Capitol complex as fire and rescue trucks and federal agents headed to the area.

Nearby buildings, including the U.S. Supreme Court, were evacuated.

JPV