Man Arrested With Guillotine Near Supreme Court
Man Arrested With Guillotine Near Supreme Court
The News
U.S. Capitol Police arrested a California man on Tuesday after officers found a guillotine in the bed of his pickup truck a short walk from the Supreme Court.
Police identified the suspect as Philan-Tam-Duy Le, 35, of Julian, California. He was arrested for carrying a dangerous weapon "for being in possession of the guillotine," the department said in a statement.
Officers noticed the truck along the 100 block of East Capitol Street around 3 p.m. because it was illegally parked. The guillotine was seized.
Timeline
Capitol Police officers spot the illegally parked pickup on the 100 block of East Capitol Street, near the Supreme Court building, with what they described as a guillotine in the bed.
Le is arrested and the device is seized. Capitol Police release photographs showing the truck and the guillotine, which the Washington Examiner described as a tall, rectangular wooden structure with a string attached.
Capitol Police announce the arrest publicly and say the investigation is ongoing.
Reactions
"This afternoon our officers seized a guillotine, which they spotted in the bed of a pickup truck along the 100 block of East Capitol Street," the U.S. Capitol Police wrote on X.
"The suspect drove here from California. USCP investigators are going through the suspect's background to learn more about why he came to Washington, DC," the department said in its press release.
What's Next
Capitol Police said the investigation is continuing and that officials are still working to determine the man's motive for traveling from California to Washington. The Supreme Court is currently in its summer recess.
More
The arrest is the latest involving a suspicious person near the Capitol complex. The Washington Examiner reported that last month officers arrested a man at the Capitol's north barricade who had a firearm — 67-year-old Wendell J. Royster, who drove up in a Ford Bronco and asked for directions to the Supreme Court after traveling from Mississippi.
The guillotine was proposed by a French doctor in the late 1700s as a quick and uniform method of execution, according to the Washington Examiner, and is best known for its use during the French Revolution's Reign of Terror. The last execution by guillotine took place in 1977 in Marseille, France.
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