United States Capitol Police (USCP) arrested a Southern California man found with a guillotine in his truck near the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday. Officers spotted the pickup truck illegally parked in the 100 block of East Capitol Street, close to the U.S. Supreme Court. Both Congress and the Supreme Court are on summer recess.
Investigators identified the man as Philan-Tam-Duy Le, 35, who made the over 2,500-mile journey from California to Washington, D.C. Police are still determining the motive behind his trip to the capital. Le is from Julian, a small town in San Diego County, and faces charges for carrying a dangerous weapon.
Photos released by police show the guillotine fully assembled and upright in the truck bed, with its frame extending several feet beyond the truck, reaching into the nearby tree line. Newsweek attempted to obtain further details from Capitol Police, including whether the guillotine accompanied Le during his drive from California.
This incident is one of several weapons-related events at the Capitol this year. Last month, Newsweek reported another arrest wherein a man drove to a Capitol barricade with a firearm. Wendell J. Royster, 67, from Columbia, Mississippi, had a weapon on his lap when he arrived at the checkpoint, asking for directions to the Supreme Court.
In February, federal prosecutors charged an 18-year-old from Georgia who ran toward the Capitol with a loaded shotgun while wearing tactical gear. The Justice Department stated that officers stopped him on Capitol grounds, recovering a shotgun loaded with eight rounds and additional ammunition. The suspect claimed he intended to speak to a Congress member, although Congress was not in session. This arrest occurred a week before President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.
Contact the Newsweek editors Anna Commander and Edward T. Cummins for more information on this story.
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