According to American media reports, on August 25th local time, a man was arrested for 'carrying a guillotine near the Supreme Court'. ABC 7News/WJLA reported that officers from the U.S. Capitol Police found a guillotine in the rear cargo area of a black pickup truck coming from California. The truck was parked 'a few meters away' from the U.S. Supreme Court at 100 East Capitol Street in Washington D.C., which is only 0.1 miles (160 meters) from the Capitol Building.
The American police discovered a guillotine in the cargo bed of a parked pickup truck. Official social media account of the U.S. Capitol Police.
The Congressional Police Department stated that the car was suspected of being parked illegally, which attracted police attention around 3 p.m. that day. The arrested suspect was a 35-year-old man named Philan-Tam-Duy Le from Julian Town, California (located about 60 miles northeast of San Diego). He was charged with “possessing a dangerous weapon” due to the existence of a sawing block at his possession.
The police said they are investigating the suspect's background to understand why he drove 2500 miles from California to Washington and why he was carrying a guillotine. Videos circulating on social media show the police unloading a guillotine from a black pickup truck, followed by the truck being towed away.
The police found the site of the guillotine. Official social media account of the U.S. Capitol Police.
According to NBC, an Instagram account allegedly belonging to the man posted a video on Tuesday afternoon titled “Guillotine Adventures”. The video showed a man carrying a guillotine standing outside the FBI headquarters in Washington, saying, “I’m eating cheese pizza outside the FBI building.” The post also read, “Next stop: Capitol Hill.”
The British newspaper The Telegraph reported that during the 2021 'Capitol Hill riot', supporters of Donald Trump even erected a 'hanging frame' outside the Capitol building and shouted 'Hang Mike Pence'. Pence served as Vice President during Trump's tenure as the 45th President of the United States, and he refused to overturn the election result won by Joe Biden.
