- Title: Man claiming to have bomb near U.S. Capitol surrenders to police
- Date: 19th August 2021
- Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (AUGUST 19, 2021) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** CAPITOL POLICE AND WASHINGTON, D.C. POLICE OFFICIALS WALKING UP TO STAGING AREA (SOUNDBITE) (English) CAPITOL POLICE CHIEF, TOM MANGER, SAYING: "Thank you for your patience. Just moments ago, Floyd Ray Roseberry from Grover, North Carolina, was taken into custody without incident. As we talked about earlier, Mr. Roseberry had parked a truck and was sitting at a truck for several hours in front of the Library of Congress. He advised that he had explosives and over the course of time, we tried to negotiate with Mr. Roseberry. We first started doing that with a whiteboard, just writing messages back and forth. We used a robot to get a telephone down to him but he would not use the telephone. But shortly after we had 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. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have." JOURNALIST OFF-CAMERA: "Chief, were there any explosives inside the vehicle and do you know a motive?" MANGER: "We don't know if there are any explosives inside the vehicle. It's still an active scene. While Mr. Roseberry has been taken into custody and has been removed from the scene, we still have to search the vehicle and render the vehicle safe. So we don't know as of yet. We do know that Mr. Roseberry has had some losses of family, I believe his mother recently passed away. We spoke with members of his family and there were other issues that he was dealing with. There will be more on that before- at a later time." JOURNALIST OFF-CAMERA: "Chief, did he have a military background?" MANGER: "We're not aware of, according to his family, we're not aware of any law enforcement or military background." JOURNALIST OFF-CAMERA: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) MANGER: "Again, it's an active scene that we're trying to render safe in terms of any other explosives. That's still ongoing." JOURNALIST OFF-CAMERA: "How much longer do you think that will take?" JOURNALIST OFF-CAMERA: "Are there explosives in other parts of the city?" MANGER: "Not that we're aware of." JOURNALIST OFF-CAMERA: "How much longer do you think it will take to assess the scene?" MANGER: "Hours. It will take hours to assess the scene." JOURNALIST OFF-CAMERA: "Was this a known figure to the Capitol Police?" MANGER: "No." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) CAPITOL POLICE CHIEF, TOM MANGER, SAYING: "Right now, we have no indication that he was acting with anyone else but that's part of the ongoing investigation." JOURNALIST OFF-CAMERA: "What is he being charged with?" MANGER: "At this point the - at this point, we'll work with the U.S. Attorney in terms of getting all the charges together." JOURNALIST OFF-CAMERA: "Does he have a criminal history?" MANGER: "The little bit of criminal history that we were able to determine is in the state of North Carolina and it was not, it was nothing, nothing that serious. But this is what we've been able to find preliminarily." JOURNALIST OFF-CAMERA: "Have you looked in and around the car? Any other contents that you guys have been able to (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? " MANGER: "So we had, we had, we had information and evidence of what was in the bed of his truck. And there were some things that were concerning but ultimately, we were able to take him into custody without incident." POLICE VEHICLES BLOCKING STREET NEAR INCIDENT VARIOUS OF EXPLOSIVES TRUCK NEAR CAPITOL BUILDING VARIOUS OF POLICE VEHICLE AND AMBULANCES LEAVING AREA MINUTES BEFORE POLICE INFORMED MEDIA THAT THE SUSPECT HAD SURRENDERED
- Embargoed: 2nd September 2021 20:34
- Keywords: Roseberry bomb threat
- Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
- City: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Bombing (non-military),Conflicts/War/Peace,United States
- Reuters ID: LVA001EQY66H3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A man who claimed to have a bomb in a pickup truck near the U.S. Capitol surrendered to police on Thursday (August 19) after a standoff that paralyzed 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 U.S. Library of Congress at about 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.
Police shut down streets and evacuated nearby buildings as they negotiated with Roseberry.
"He got out of the vehicle and surrendered and the tactical units that were close by took him into custody without incident," said Manger.
Police did not say whether he had any explosives.
A video livestreamed on Facebook showed Roseberry, a bald man with a goatee, speaking inside a black truck parked on a sidewalk.
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.
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 standoff in the U.S. capital.
In Washington, the ordinarily crowded Capitol Hill area was relatively deserted, with the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate out of session.
Police blocked off roads surrounding the Capitol complex as fire and rescue trucks headed to the area. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it was sending a bomb technician to support police. The Federal Bureau of Investigation also responded.
Nearby buildings, including the U.S. Supreme Court, were evacuated.
High-security fencing was erected in the area after the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, but it was removed by mid-July.
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