Man arrested outside U.S. Capitol with 2 Molotov cocktails, police say
![Police stand watch outside the U.S. Capitol in September 2021. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)](https://thumb.spokesman.com/uO6q6eDqVn9RLDznlEJuDvMVKgE=/600x0/media.spokesman.com/graphics/2018/07/sr-loader.png)
A Rhode Island man carrying two Molotov cocktails in his coat pockets was arrested outside the U.S. Capitol on Monday after he approached a police officer and said he wanted to surrender, authorities said. They said the man later told them he had come to Washington to kill high-ranking government officials.
Ryan M. English, 24, charged with carrying an explosive device on U.S. Capitol grounds, was in custody Tuesday awaiting an appearance in U.S. District Court in D.C., according to police and an affidavit filed in court. No one was injured in the incident.
Peter Campopiano, a U.S. Capitol Police special agent, wrote in the affidavit that English walked up to an officer near the Capitol’s South Front shortly after 3 p.m. Monday and said, “I’d like to turn myself in.” He told the officer that he was carrying several knives and two Molotov cocktails, according to the affidavit.
When officers searched English, they found a folding knife and two bottles of Absolut Vodka, each with a “grey piece of cloth affixed to its top,” the affidavit says. It says English told officers that he had traveled to Washington initially intending to kill House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth but that he changed his target to the newly confirmed treasury secretary, Scott Bessent.
As of Tuesday evening, federal court records did not indicate whether English is represented by a lawyer.