U.S. Capitol Police arrested a man for bringing a machete and other knives inside the rotunda as late, former President Jimmy Carter’s lies in state. News4’s Aimee Cho reports live.
A man with a machete and three other knives in his bag was arrested at the entrance to the U.S. Capitol as members of the public paid their respects to former President Jimmy Carter on Wednesday, U.S. Capitol Police said.
According to Capitol Police, a 44-year-old D.C. man was stopped at the north doors to the Capitol Visitors Center. Officers spotted the machete in the man's bag, at which point they stopped the X-ray machine and arrested him.
When searching the bag to secure the machete, they also found the three knives, Capitol Police shared in a statement to social media.
“Our officers know they cannot let their guard down for one second,” U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said in a news release. “It is this constant focus and attention to detail that helps keep this campus safe.”
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Police reopened the checkpoint about an hour later. The public viewing of Carter lying in state was not stopped, police said.
Police sources said they were investigating a suspicious vehicle on the west side of the Capitol on First Street between Maryland and Pennsylvania avenues Wednesday evening. The vehicle has what is described as suspicious writing or signs on it, and police also found suspicious items inside the vehicle. The area was cordoned off while police investigate, and a man is in custody.
Thousands of visitors from all around the country have been visiting the Capitol Rotunda to pay their respects while Carter lies in state on Wednesday, before his state funeral on Thursday. Those visitors traveled through snow, ice and below-freezing conditions, some lining up before dawn to mourn.
Sandy Sessink, one of those mourners, drove all the way from Michigan to pay her respects in honor of her father, who greatly admired Carter.
"He just was a huge fan of Jimmy Carter's," Sessink said. "And we just respect him so much, and I have so much respect for him, and I just wanted to pay my respects. I just feel very strongly about it. And, uh ... It's for my dad," she said, tearing up at the end.
The reason the man went to the Capitol with multiple weapons is not yet clear.
He was arrested on multiple charges of carrying a dangerous weapon, Capitol Police said. Authorities will share more information as it becomes available.
