A man was arrested in a park near the U.S. Capitol in D.C. Tuesday after police said he had a gun.
U.S. Capitol Police said the man will be charged with having a firearm on Capitol grounds, which is a violation. Police are working to determine whether the gun was legal and whether it was registered to him.
Capitol Police said they do not believe there is an ongoing threat, and they searched the man’s belongings out of an abundance of caution.
Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said the man didn’t make any verbal threats before he was arrested.
“Before we took him into custody, there was no information exchanged. We were telling him to drop the gun and he just kept walking at a very slow pace until he was tased,” Manger said at a news conference.
As a result of the investigation, Columbus Circle between Louisiana and Delaware avenues in Northeast, and D Street between Louisiana and Delaware avenues were closed. People were asked to avoid the area.
Below is the area where it happened.
The latest arrest comes after U.S. Capitol Police officers arrested two people with handguns on Sunday.
A Capitol Police officer saw a vehicle idling along Massachusetts Avenue in Northeast. While trying to make a traffic stop, the driver sped away and crashed into a vehicle barricade near First and D streets in Northeast.
The driver and passenger ran away and were later captured. Police said they recovered guns, one of which had a “Giggle Switch” to turn it into a machine gun, a news release said. The vehicle turned out to be stolen out of Prince George’s County, Maryland.
