By Lindsay Whitehurst
A man with a rifle was arrested in a park near the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, police said.
Police confronted 21-year-old Ahmir Lavon Merrell of Atlanta after someone saw him with the gun in a park near Senate office buildings and told an officer, U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement. Officers demanded that he drop the gun, but he refused and they used a Taser stun gun to subdue him, police said.
The park and roads in the area across from Washington’s Union Station were closed for about two hours as officers searched the area and Merrell's belongings.
Officers said they did not believe there was an ongoing threat. It was not immediately clear why he was in Washington. No publicly listed contacts were available for him, and a lawyer who represented him on a previous case did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said he was proud of officers who “ran toward the man with the loaded gun.”
Carrying firearms is prohibited on U.S. Capitol grounds. So far this year, U.S. Capitol Police have confiscated more than 30 guns.
After the arrest, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he supports a ban on guns often referred to as assault weapons. “We are keeping a constant vigilance on security” in the Capitol, he said.
Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this story.
An Army private who fled to North Korea before being returned home to the United States last month has been detained by the U.S. military, two officials said Thursday night, and is facing charges including desertion and possessing sexual images of a child.
Israel bombarded Gaza early Friday, hitting areas in the south where Palestinians had been told to seek safety, and it began evacuating a sizable Israeli town in the north near the Lebanese border, the latest sign of a potential ground invasion of Gaza that could trigger regional turmoil.
With warmer oceans serving as fuel, Atlantic hurricanes are now more than twice as likely as before to rapidly intensify from wimpy minor hurricanes to powerful and catastrophic, a study said Thursday.
The Justice Department has secured a $9 million settlement with Ameris Bank over allegations that it avoided underwriting mortgages in predominately Black and Latino communities in Jacksonville, Florida, and discouraged people there from getting home loans.
Israel pounded the Gaza Strip with airstrikes on Thursday, including in the south where Palestinians were told to take refuge, and the country's defense minister told ground troops to “be ready” to invade, though he didn’t say when.
Addressing the nation from the Oval Office, President Joe Biden has made his case for major U.S. backing of Ukraine and Israel in a time of war.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Thursday that inflation remains too high and that bringing it down to the Fed's target level will likely require a slower-growing economy and job market.
According to a new survey from the Federal Reserve, income inequality grew during the pandemic.
Cheddar News checks in with your coast-to-coast weather forecast for Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023.
The suspect accused of orchestrating the killing of iconic rapper Tupac Shakur will be arraigned Thursday on a murder charge. Duane Davis is expected to plead not guilty to murder with the use of a deadly weapon.
Load More