A man was arrested early Sunday morning outside St. Matthew’s Cathedral in NW Washington, D.C. after officers say they found a cache of over 200 homemade explosive devices in a tent on the church’s front steps, along with writings opposed to the Catholic Church, the Jewish faith, the Supreme Court, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Court documents released today indicated that Metropolitan Police Department officers encountered the man, later identified by police as Louis Geri of New Jersey, while clearing the block ahead of the annual Red Mass service, which draws members of the legal community and was expected to be attended by some justices of the Supreme Court, officials said.
Early on Sunday morning, officers told him Geri he would have to move a tent and his belongings, but he refused and warned, “You might want to stay back and call the federales. I have explosives/bombs,” according to police accounts.
“…several of your people are gonna to die from one of these”
Police said a sergeant from the bomb squad spoke with Geri and told him he needed to leave because of the Red Mass. Geri acknowledged the event and, officers say, began making threats and describing the devices. “Do you want me to throw one out, I’ll test one out in the street? I have a hundred plus of them. If you just step back, I’ll throw one in the street, no one will get hurt, there will be a hole in the street…if you just step back, I’ll take out that tree,” he told officers, according to the police statement.
When told he would be removed, Geri said, “…several of your people are gonna to die from one of these,” police said.
Officers reported that Geri was holding a butane lighter and a small white-capped object, and that he had written documents in his tent titled “Written Negotiations for the Avoidance of Destruction of Property via Detonation of Explosives.” He later confirmed that he had written the documents and that he had an “explosive background,” police said. At one point, investigators said, Geri positioned his thumb over the lighter and threatened to ignite a device; officers retreated and sought to regroup.
While officers established a perimeter, the cathedral’s business manager emerged with a notice saying Geri had been banned from the property after he had set up a tent on the steps two weeks earlier. Just then, Geri walked to a tree to relieve himself and was taken into custody by officers who placed him in handcuffs, authorities said.
Investigators reviewed the writings by Geri that, police said, expressed animosity toward the Catholic Church, members of the Jewish faith, the Supreme Court and ICE/immigration enforcement facilities.
Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians later told investigators that more than 200 devices were recovered from the tent, and officers detected a strong smell of Acetone coming from some of the vials. Laboratory testing determined some of the liquid to be Nitromethane, officials said.
EOD technician said that the items appeared to be fully functional or assembled from parts intended to be converted into destructive devices. Police said Geri described the items as grenades and explosives containing Nitromethane with a rubber band securing a fuse for detonation.
Geri was transported to the 2nd District station after refusing medical treatment and placed in custody.
He was later charged with multiple offenses, including unlawful entry; manufacture, transfer, use, possession or transportation of Molotov cocktails or other explosives for unlawful purposes; threats to kidnap or injure a person; two counts of assault on a police officer; possession of a destructive device; manufacture or possession of a weapon of mass destruction (hate crime); and resisting arrest.
Police said all personal effects and the recovered devices and materials were turned over to the FBI for processing.
The Red Mass is a centuries-old tradition held in major U.S. cities to mark the start of the judicial year, and it is typically attended by judges, lawyers and other members of the legal profession. St. Matthew’s Cathedral, on Rhode Island Avenue in Northeast Washington, has hosted the annual service for decades.
A Supreme Court spokesperson said that no Supreme Court justices attended this year’s Red Mass, but they have in previous years.
