Police identify suspect who surrendered after claiming to have a bomb near US Capitol
CNN
By Whitney Wild, Lauren Fox and Daniella Diaz, CNN
A suspect who claimed to have an explosive device in a truck near the US Capitol has surrendered to authorities and is in custody, US Capitol Police said Thursday.
Police have identified the suspect as 49-year-old Floyd Ray Roseberry. The incident prompted multiple buildings in the area to be evacuated Thursday as authorities responded to an “active bomb threat investigation,” the US Capitol Police wrote on Twitter.
Roseberry drove a black pickup truck onto the sidewalk in front of the Library of Congress at 9:15 a.m. ET, claiming he had a bomb and displayed what looked like a detonator to the officer on the scene, according to US Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger.
Negotiators were in communication with the suspect and were trying to come to a “resolution,” Manger told reporters at a press conference near the Capitol.
Manger said the suspect had been live-streaming, but added “we don’t have much information about him at this time.”
“We don’t know what his motives are at this time,” he said.
Video has been posted on Facebook by the suspect, a law enforcement official told CNN. A video that lasts about a half hour shows an individual from inside a truck, holding a cannister that he says is a bomb and speaking about a “revolution.”
The pickup truck the man drove to the scene does not have license plates, sources told CNN.
Two Library of Congress buildings — the Jefferson and the Madison — and the Cannon House Office Building were evacuated due to a suspicious vehicle in the vicinity, according to alerts sent to staffers viewed by CNN.
Staffers in the Madison and Jefferson buildings on Thursday were alerted by email to remain calm and relocate — and not to exit toward First Street. Those in Cannon were advised to relocate to the Longworth House Office Building using the Capitol’s underground tunnels.
The Senate and House are not in session, and most lawmakers are not currently in their offices.
The Supreme Court was also evacuated on the recommendation of US Capitol Police, according to a spokesperson for the court, which is closed to the public because of Covid-19.
The FBI said in a statement that its Washington field office’s National Capital Response Squad was responding to the incident. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was also responding, the agency said on Twitter.
President Joe Biden has been briefed on the bomb threat on Capitol Hill, according to a White House official, who said the President “is receiving regular updates from law enforcement” on the matter.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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CNN’s Evan Perez, Veronica Stracqualursi, Annie Grayer, Laura Smitherman, Jessica Schneider, Zachary Cohen, Jeff Zeleny and Natasha Bertrand contributed to this report.
