UPDATE (2:37 PM): Roseberry has surrendered after a standoff with law enforcement.
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The Library of Congress and the Supreme Court have been evacuated after a man known as Ray Roseberry of Earl, North Carolina parked his pickup truck, loaded with explosives powerful enough, he claims to decimate two and a half city blocks.
On Thursday afternoon, Roseberry began streaming live on Facebook, announcing that the "revolution" had arrived and demanding to speak to President Joe Biden.
Facebook has since shut down both Roseberry's account and his livestream, but chilling portions of it have been shared on social media.
#BREAKING there is a white man in a truck on the sidewalk in front of the Library of Congress across from the Capitol. Confirmed he is a far right extremist.\n\nHe live-streamed for 30 min from inside. Ranting about \u201cPatriots\u201d and Biden. Says there are other bombs in the city.pic.twitter.com/sgtFlk4UuV— Vishal P. Singh (They/He) (@Vishal P. Singh (They/He)) 1629389974
NEW: \u201cThe revolution is on. It\u2019s here\u2026 I\u2019m ready to die for the cause.\u201d\n\nHere\u2019s video from the man who said he\u2019s got a bomb outside the Capitol. \n\nFollow @huffpost and @sara_bee for more as the situation develops.pic.twitter.com/aRx1hES7Vl— Ryan J. Reilly (@Ryan J. Reilly) 1629391018
Roseberry said at one point:
"If you blow my truck up, man, hey, it's on you, Joe. I'm ready to die for the cause. And, brother, you said if you could do anything to save one life, one life, you said you'd do it. You got a chance. I wanna go home Sunday. I wanna go home and see my wife. We're living in a free country, Joe. Choice is yours. If you wanna shoot me, and take the chance of blowing up two and a half city blocks ... I don't wanna die, Joe. I wanna go home."
Roseberry claimed his explosive has a "dead man's trigger," which detonates once a human operator's pulse drops below a certain level, signifying death or loss of consciousness. He further claimed the explosives would be detonated at the sound of breaking glass. What's more, Roseberry says there are four other "patriots" spread across D.C.
Journalist Emily Gorcenski scoured Roseberry's social media to paint a more detailed picture of his motivations and ideology.
Facebook likes from the alleged perpetrator of the bomb threat in DCpic.twitter.com/kNKq2pw3BF— Emily G (@Emily G) 1629389746
Facebook posts include a regular array of right-wing, proto-white nationalist talking points, including:
- anger at transgender people being allowed into the military
- "black on black" and "black on white" crime
- anti-masking
- anti-democratic party sentiment
— Emily G (@EmilyGorcenski) August 19, 2021
A couple things to note:
- he claims to have four other people stationed around the city. Militia-types love overinflating their strength of force
- he claims his trigger would fire on the sound of glass shattering. this is plausible and can be easily built.
— Emily G (@EmilyGorcenski) August 19, 2021
I was able to get these stills of the device. He describes the trigger, but misuses certain terms. He says it's triggered off “decimals" (not decibels) and he points to the round protruding bit and says it's a “speaker." pic.twitter.com/OSXFC8Y3Vq
— Emily G (@EmilyGorcenski) August 19, 2021
The disturbing scene embodied the continued national spiral into derangement and extremism, largely prompted by the right wing's embrace of nationalism and conspiracy theories.
All those years profiling Muslims and Arabs & destroying lives in the Middle East. In the meantime we have been growing white nationalist terrorists here at home. #bombthreat at the capital.pic.twitter.com/VHoYYaIeMO— Ariel Gold \u05d0\u05e8\u05d9\u05d0\u05dc \ud83d\udd4e \u262e\ufe0f\ud83d\udd25\u2721\ufe0f (@Ariel Gold \u05d0\u05e8\u05d9\u05d0\u05dc \ud83d\udd4e \u262e\ufe0f\ud83d\udd25\u2721\ufe0f) 1629392028
Ray Roseberry is another Trump cultist and domestic terrorist threatening our nation's Capitol. The crazy right-wing conspiracy theorists are already trying to blame it on aNtIfA. \n\nDudes, the call is coming from inside your house. YOU are the bad guys. #bombthreat— Ben Jackson (@Ben Jackson) 1629394782
We have a real problem here in the United States and the danger is present and growing. And the source is very identifiable. \n\nHow to deal with it is another issue.https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/1428395576157249541\u00a0\u2026— Mark S. Zaid (@Mark S. Zaid) 1629396017
They\u2019re weak minded cowards who can\u2019t stand losing and they keep losing. They\u2019re willing to die for their cause because they can\u2019t admit they\u2019re wrong. Their world is crashing down to equality.https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/1428395576157249541\u00a0\u2026— David (@David) 1629392852
White supremacist are the biggest terrorist threat in the United States. This attack in front of the Library of Congress is a continuation of the insurrection of January 6th and directly tied to Donald Trump and his dangerous rhetoric.https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/1428395576157249541\u00a0\u2026— UGene\ud83d\udc1d (@UGene\ud83d\udc1d) 1629392738
Further demonstrating the grip of right-wing conspiracy theories on the nation, "false flag" soon began trending on Twitter, with people baselessly claiming Roseberry's terrorism was manufactured by the state as a distraction from the chaos engulfing the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan
Note to D.C.\n\nWe know you love a good false flag when your backs are against the wall.\n\nDont expect us to care much anymore.\n\nDont trot out the FBI, they have no credibility.\n\nDont do it on your own turf, people are okay with DC being terrorized, you terrorize us enough.— Javier Goya (@Javier Goya) 1629385588
False Flags are popping up everywhere. \n\nThey will do everything in their power to distract from Afghanistan.— John D \u2022 (@John D \u2022) 1629394576
Don't let the alleged Bomb Scare in D.C. Distract from what's going on in Afghanistan...the #DCbomb is a False Flag...a distraction— Ssgt Grumpy Mary Veterans R Infrastructure (@Ssgt Grumpy Mary Veterans R Infrastructure) 1629396348
Afghanistan is a catastrophe so they try to distract us with false flags.— \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 Matthew Holliday \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 Matthew Holliday \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1629396978
The threat is still active and the situation still unfolding.
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