WASHINGTON (AP/1010 WINS) — A man in a pickup truck outside the Library of Congress surrendered hours after he told police he had a bomb and prompted a massive law enforcement response near the U.S. Capitol, authorities said.
The man, identified by law enforcement officials as Floyd Ray Roseberry, 49, of North Carolina, crawled out of the vehicle and was being taken into custody shortly before 2:30 p.m. following an hours-long standoff.
The man had been negotiating with police during the standoff, which lasted around five hours.
At a news briefing earlier in the day, U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said police were in communication with the suspect.
"My negotiators are hard at work trying to have a peaceful resolution to this incident," Manger said at the time.
A robot is seen near a person in a pickup truck parked on the sidewalk in front of the Library of Congress' Thomas Jefferson Building, as seen from a window of the U.S. Capitol, Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021, in Washington.AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Anonymous sources told the Associated Press that law enforcement had communicated with the man as he wrote notes and showed them to police from inside the truck.
Authorities were trying to determine whether the man had an operable bomb. Police gave no immediate details on his motive.
Police sent snipers to the area near the Capitol and Supreme Court and evacuated multiple buildings on the sprawling Capitol complex. Congress is in recess this week, but staffers were seen calmly walking out of the area at the direction of authorities.
People are evacuated from the James Madison Memorial Building, a Library of Congress building, in Washington on Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021, as law enforcement investigate a report of a pickup truck containing an explosive device near the U.S. Capitol.AP Photo/Alex Brandon
The nation's capital has been tense since the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.
Fencing that had been installed around the Capitol grounds had been up for months but was taken down this summer. A day before thousands of pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol, pipe bombs were left at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee in Washington. No one has been arrested yet for placing the bombs.
The RNC, not far away from where the truck was parked Thursday, was also evacuated over the threat.
The area was blocked off by police cars and barricades, and multiple fire trucks and ambulances were staged nearby. Also responding were the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police, FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
A Metropolitan Police Department cruiser blocks a street near the U.S. Capitol and a Library of Congress building in Washington on Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021, as law enforcement officials investigate a report of a pickup truck containing an explosive device.AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
