Police end standoff with man near Capitol claiming to have bomb

WASHINGTON â€" 

A man who claimed to have a bomb and who initially livestreamed a standoff with police outside the Library of Congress surrendered to authorities after a nearly five-hour standoff Thursday.

Officials evacuated the Jefferson and Madison Library of Congress buildings, across the street from the Capitol, and sent snipers to nearby roofs after officers saw the man in a black pickup holding what looked like a detonator inside the pickup, which had no license plates. Additionally, Cannon House Office Building occupants were relocated to the Longworth House Office Building using underground tunnels.

Officials identified the man as Floyd Ray Roseberry, 49, from North Carolina.

Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said the man parked his truck on the sidewalk in front of the Library of Congress around 9:15 a.m. (Eastern). Manger did not immediately offer information on a motive.

Facebook removed the livestream, and a spokesman said the company also took down what appeared to be a profile of the man in question. Facebook spokesman Andy Stone tweeted that the company is “continuing to investigate.”

Many lawmakers and staffers were out of town because of the scheduled August recess. And the nation’s Capitol was already something of a ghost town. By 1 p.m. (Eastern), local and Capitol had police barricaded the surrounding area with cars and yellow caution tape, diverting street and foot traffic away from the scene.

Police negotiators communicated with the man as he wrote notes and showed them to authorities from inside the truck, according to three people who were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity. They were trying to determine whether it was an operable bomb, the officials said.

“My negotiators are hard at work trying to have a peaceful resolution to this incident,” U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said. “We’re trying to get as much information as we can to find a way to peacefully resolve this.”

The District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were also on the scene to help with negotiations and the investigation.

Capitol Hill staff are used to routine reports of suspicious packages or vehicles on Capitol, but extended investigations are rare and evacuations are unusual. On Tuesday, a suspicious package near the Library of Congress prompted a Capitol Police investigation, but the road closures and investigation were ended in just under an hour.

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 Republican National Committee, not far away from where the truck was parked on the sidewalk , was also evacuated over the threat.

The White House said it was monitoring the situation and was being briefed by law enforcement.

Times staff writers Sarah Wire and Erin Logan and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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