Police Arrest Man Found With Guns in Vehicle Near U.S. Capitol
Enlarge this image toggle caption Rich Pedroncelli/AP Rich Pedroncelli/AP
Updated at 5:10 p.m. ET
Authorities in Maryland say they have arrested a man who was found with two loaded guns in his trunk and a handgun in his waistband after he was arrested on suspicious activity charges.
Police spokesman Brian Thoms said that as part of the investigation, the man was booked on charges of carrying a handgun on the premises of a federal facility, as well as two counts of discharging a firearm in public.
In the car, police found more than 100 rounds of ammunition and a shotgun.
“The evidence that we had at the time suggests that this person had a very sophisticated way of not only storing, but also, perhaps, a means of using, an AK47-style weapon in the trunk,” Thoms said. The incident occurred at the end of a day of protests that followed the death of George Floyd, a black man whose body was lying in a garbage can in Minneapolis last month.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Rich Pedroncelli/AP Rich Pedroncelli/AP
In a statement released after the arrest was announced, the U.S. Capitol Police said the man is not a member of the U.S. Capitol Police and “does not have access to the building.”
“In addition, we had to move the Capitol Police’s cordon, which resulted in significant delays, as well as a disruption in the public’s ability to access the Capitol to observe protests,” Thoms said.
The man was charged on Thursday with second-degree possession of a handgun and two counts of discharging a firearm in public.
Thoms did not identify the man by name, saying only that he was a subject of the investigation. When asked multiple times if he was a member of the U.S. Capitol Police, Thoms said he answered in the affirmative but when asked repeatedly if the man was known to