A man was arrested in Washington on Wednesday for allegedly trying to start a fire near the U.S. Capitol, police said.
U.S. Capitol Police officers responded to an area in front of the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial on First Street NW shortly before 5:30 p.m. Wednesday after being alerted that a man was trying to start a fire. They arrived to find the suspect had set a bag on top of his parked car and lit the bag on fire.
The bag "extinguished on its own" as officers approached the man. The 35-year-old suspect, who was not immediately identified, was arrested for unlawful activities. His car, which had been spray-painted, was declared suspicious "out of an abundance of caution."
The U.S. Capitol Police Hazardous Incident Response Division cleared the vehicle, and determined it was not a danger by about 7 p.m. Investigators determined that accelerants were in the bag.
The incident came just a few hours after Capitol Police arrested local 44-year-old Mel J. Horne for allegedly trying to bring a machete and three knives through a screening checkpoint at the Capitol Visitor Center shortly after 2 p.m. Officers spotted the items in his bag as it went through an X-ray machine.
"Twice today our officers stopped a man who could have been a danger to the Capitol Hill community," U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said in a statement. "This vigilance is critical during this time of heightened security."
The incidents came as members of the public paid their respects to late President Jimmy Carter as he was lying in state. Police said public viewings were not stopped and would continue through the night.
--with reporting by TMX
