WASHINGTON, DC - Only one day after a crazed lunatic ran down New Year’s Eve revelers in New Orleans, killing 15 and injuring dozens more, police in our nation’s capital arrested a man driving along a sidewalk near the U.S. Capitol at around 10:00 a.m. Thursday, the New York Post reports.
Police arrested a man after he drove his vehicle onto a “grassy area” near Capitol Hill and charged him with reckless driving. Capitol police officers temporarily closed roads adjacent to the Capitol until a bomb squad said the area was safe.
The dark-skinned man, who was not identified, appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent. Police did not say if he was suspected to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
In an initial statement, US Capitol Police said: “Before 10 a.m., our Special Operations Division spotted a car driving along the sidewalk, near Peace Circle, and into the grassy area near Third Street, NW, and Constitution Avenue. Officers took the man into custody.”
In a later tweet posted on X, Capitol Police tweeted, “Our bomb squad cleared the car and declared that it is safe. The driver is being arrested for reckless driving. Please continue to avoid the area, while our investigators continue their work. Roads in the area will re-open shortly. Have a safe day.”
The Post said that the area in question is located just south of the Labor Department’s headquarters and southeast of the federal courthouse housing the US District Court and the Federal Appeals Court.
A nearby office building houses rental offices and is the former location of the Penn Biden Center, where Joe Biden secreted classified documents removed illegally after his vice presidential term ended.
The DC incident comes after two high-profile terrorist attacks since New Year’s Eve, the one in New Orleans and a failed car bombing outside the Trump Hotel in downtown Las Vegas that was initially believed to have claimed only the suspect, who was thought to be killed in the blast.
However, authorities now report that the Vegas suspect, an active duty Green Beret named Matthew Livelsberger, shot himself in the head before the car bomb exploded. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill told reporters that Livelsberger, 37, was found inside the vehicle with a “self-inflicted gunshot wound” to the head. He was burned beyond recognition in the blast, authorities said. Police have yet to establish a motive in the Las Vegas incident.
Meanwhile, in New Orleans, Shamsud Din-Jabbar, an Army veteran and US citizen, ran down dozens of people celebrating New Year’s Eve on Bourbon Street in the city’s French Quarter. Din-Jabbar got in a shootout with police and was taken out. He was radicalized by ISIS at some point, investigators say.
With the election of President-elect Trump set to be certified by Congress on January 6, the Washington, DC Metro Police Department is heightening security measures throughout the nation’s capital, they announced.
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