Details Emerge About Man Arrested in DC Bomb Threat

Wife says he has mental health issues, was upset with results of presidential election
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 20, 2021 12:41 AM CDT
Wife of Man Arrested in DC Bomb Threat Speaks
Authorities investigate 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)

Details are coming out about the man arrested in Washington, DC, Thursday after a bomb threat resulted in a five-hour-long standoff and caused buildings around the US Capitol to be evacuated. Suspect Floyd Ray Roseberry, 49, of North Carolina, "was dealing with" some issues, among them the recent deaths of family members including his mother, the Capitol Police chief says. Roseberry claimed to have explosives inside his pickup truck and made comments directed at President Biden, the News & Observer reports.

"I’m all ready to die for the cause. And brother, if you could do anything to save one life, one life, you said you’d do it. Well, you got a chance. I want to go home. I want to go home and see my wife," he said, before allegedly threatening that his truck would blow up if he was shot at. "I don’t want to die, Joe. I want to go home, just like the people of Afghanistan want to go home. All them dead people are on your hands, too."

Other comments he made suggested he believed former President Trump's baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, WCNC reports. He was also apparently upset about health insurance and healthcare struggles he and his wife were having, saying, "Where’s your insurance at Biden? Obama? You keep on letting all these illegal Mexicans in here … we’re going to have free healthcare for us. You’re [expletive] giving it to them. The South’s fed up!" He also, at one point, threw $3,000 in cash onto the sidewalk, the Washington Post reports.

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Roseberry's wife tells NBC News he was dealing with mental health issues and had recently changed medication, and that he was upset over the presidential election results, having voted for the first time in his life when he cast his ballot for Trump. While he claimed Thursday that there were other "patriots" in vehicles stationed around DC, police say they believe he was acting alone. Charges against him are pending. (More Washington, DC stories.)

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