Man threatens to bomb US Capitol

First responders arrive on the scene to investigate a report of an explosive device in a pickup truck, near the Library of Congress on Capitol Hill, in Washington, DC.

A man who claimed to have a bomb in a pickup truck near the US Capitol surrendered to police yesterday after a stand-off that paralysed 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 US Library of Congress about 9.15am 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. “Shortly after we delivered the telephone, he got out of the vehicle and surrendered, and the tactical units that were close by took him into custody without incident,” Manger said. “He gave up and did not resist.” 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,” he said in the video, while appearing to hold a large metal canister on his lap. “I’m trying to get (US President) Joe Biden on the phone.” 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,” she said. Facebook deactivated the livestream and removed the man’s profile after about four hours. Federal agents raided Roseberry’s home in Grover, North Carolina, during the stand-off in the US capital. Neighbours said Roseberry would set off explosives in his yard and disrupt deer hunters by shooting his gun repeatedly. In Washington, the ordinarily-crowded Capitol Hill area was relatively deserted, with the US House of Representatives and Senate out of session. Nearby buildings, including the US Supreme Court, were evacuated. High-security fencing was erected in the area after the deadly January 6 attack on the Capitol by supporters of then-president Donald Trump, but it was removed by mid-July.