A man who claimed he had a bomb in a pickup truck near the US Capitol, prompting evacuations and an hours-long standoff with police, has been charged with threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to use an explosive device. If convicted, he could face a sentence of up to life in prison.
Floyd Ray Roseberry appeared before a federal magistrate judge in Washington on Friday and said he had not taken his “mind medication”. He was ordered to undergo a mental competency hearing.
Roseberry drove a black pickup truck on to the sidewalk outside the Library of Congress around 9.15am on Thursday and allegedly began shouting to people in the street that he had a bomb. He later made the same bomb threats to police officers and professed a litany of anti-government grievances as he livestreamed for a Facebook audience.
Roseberry surrendered after about five hours. Police later searched the vehicle and said they did not find a bomb but did collect possible bomb-making materials.
In the court hearing on Friday, Roseberry, 49, of Grover, North Carolina, told the judge he couldn’t fully understand what was happening because he had been denied medication while he was in custody. Roseberry told the judge he had gone to school until the eighth grade and then later earned a GED diploma.
He said he had not received medication for his blood pressure and his “mind medicine”. Roseberry said he had “been denied it for the last week I’ve been here”, but later said it had been two days.
He was taken into police custody about 24 hours before he appeared in court.
Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui ordered Roseberry to undergo a competency hearing and ordered him detained without bond.
Roseberry is due back in court on Wednesday.
