UPDATE 14:24 EST: The Capitol bomb threat suspect at the Library of Congress has surrendered himself to the police.
According to reports, police were investigating a report of a possible explosive device in a pickup truck outside the Library of Congress on Capitol Hill on Thursday and had evacuated the area around the building.
The man in the truck has claimed that he is carrying an explosive device.
“The USCP is responding to a suspicious vehicle near the Library of Congress,” the Capitol Police initially said.
Big police activity on Capitol Hill https://t.co/c8jL96Zee3 pic.twitter.com/0mliUNiOCr
— Raheem J. Kassam (@RaheemKassam) August 19, 2021
According to law enforcement officials, investigators have reached the scene to determine whether the device was an operable explosive. The officials were not authorised to speak publicly about the situation and spoke on the condition of anonymity, AP reported.
Police sent negotiators to the truck where the man was in possession of possible explosives near Library of Congress at Capitol Hill.
Multiple federal buildings and the United States Supreme court have been evacuated because of a suspected security threat near the Library of Congress.
Metropolitan Police Department special operations with heavy arms and gas masks are on the scene to help US Capitol police.
The scene on NJ & D SE.
MPD Special Operations is assisting USCP. You can see a heavily armed officer with a gas mask in this video. Dozens of construction workers ran out of the buildings. pic.twitter.com/66itAq4ZI6
— Julie Tsirkin (@JulieNBCNews) August 19, 2021
Alleged photo of the suspect, shared by a Twitter user, holding explosive device in a truck at the Capitol Hill.
Pickup truck involved in the bomb threat near Library of Congress reportedly does not have license plates, CNN reported quoting sources.
“This is an active bomb threat investigation. The staging area for journalists covering this situation is at Constitution and First Street, NW for your safety.” Capitol police said.
“Please stay away from this area and follow this account for the latest information.” Police added.
UPDATES AFTER 12:30 EST:
According to Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger, the man parked his vehicle on a sidewalk outside the United States Library of Congress around 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.
A bald white man with a goatee was seen speaking inside a truck parked on a sidewalk outside of what appeared to be the Library of Congress in a video livestreamed on Facebook.
Ray Roseberry, who is reportedly from North Carolina, is making anti-government threats.
The man in the truck live-streamed himself and said “only Joe Biden” can detonate the explosive he claims to have.
Here is the part of the ‘live-streaming video’ posted by Ray Roseberry on Facebook:
BREAKING VIDEO: Man claiming to have explosive device in a truck on the sidewalk in front of the Library of Congress says "only Joe Biden" can detonate the claimed explosive he has. "If you shoot me, 2 and a half blocks are going with me"
Updates: https://t.co/zShmC1IFgR pic.twitter.com/8uJQKJ7O25
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) August 19, 2021
This appears to be the livestream of the man who is sitting in the pickup truck near the US Capitol https://t.co/sNKdRHRQSU pic.twitter.com/fywOoRkuWI
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) August 19, 2021
The man in the truck near Capitol Hill, in his now-deleted live-stream video, said:
‘You step down out of office, I’ll step down out of this truck’
‘The first thing we want is airstrikes in Afghanistan to kick that Taliban’s ass and keep them from killing people’
‘I just got chose for the job. Unlike you’
‘This ain’t got nothing to do with politics. I don’t care if Donald Trump ever becomes president again. Don’t matter to me. I think ya’ll Democrats need to step down’
“If you shoot me, 2 and a half blocks are going with me. Then you’re talking about a revolution. The revolution is on. It’s today.”
“I told my wife I’d be home by Sunday. I’m looking for all my other patriots to come out and help me, cause I’ve got it standing, I’ve got the foundation built people,” the man said in the livestream video
“Them snipers come in and they start shooting this windows out, this bomb is going off because it was built by y’alls people, by the people y’all had in the military, y’all were the ones that trained the man to build it,” the man in the truck added.
The Facebook page of the man making bomb threat at Library Congress (who had been live streaming on Facebook) has been taken down.
