Sandy MaloneChevy Chase, MD – An armed man was arrested near the home of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh early on Wednesday morning after the suspect called the police on himself.
The incident occurred at about 1:50 a.m. on June 8 after the suspect called 911 and told the dispatcher he had a gun and had traveled from California to attack Kavanaugh, NBC News reported.
The suspect told the 911 operator that he was having homicidal thoughts about the Supreme Court justice appointed by former President Donald Trump.
Officials said that officers stopped the suspect a block away from the Kavanaugh home, NBC News reported.
Police said he was armed with a handgun, knife, pepper spray, and burglary tools.
Officials said the suspect told arresting officers that he was there to kill Kavanaugh, NBC News reported.
Police said the suspect, who was in his 20s, was from California and had taken a taxi to Kavanaugh’s neighborhood.
Federal law enforcement sources said that no charges have been filed against the man at this time, according to FOX News.
Authorities have so far withheld the suspect’s name.
The man was transported to the Montgomery County Police Department’s Second District for booking, FOX News reported.
The U.S. Marshals Service and Montgomery County police are heading up the investigation into the incident.
Sources told The Washington Post that the suspect told police he was angry about the leaked draft of an opinion that indicated the U.S. Supreme Court was planning to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that guaranteed the right to have an abortion.
The sources also said the man claimed to be angry about the recent mass shootings across the country.
Tensions spiked after the draft opinion in a controversial Mississippi abortion case was leaked and there have been multiple protests in front of the homes of conservative justices since then, The Washington Post reported.
The draft ruling indicated that a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court justices were planning to vote to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling established in 1973, NBC News reported.
The Supreme Court was expected to issue its ruling in the Mississippi case in June or July.
A group called “Ruth Sent Us” published the home addresses of conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts, The Washington Post reported.
President Joe Biden’s administration has said the protests are fine as long as they remain peaceful, but legal experts have said that protesting at the home of a member of judiciary is probably illegal regardless of how peaceful it is.
Law enforcement agencies in the various jurisdictions in which the justices live have so far handled security at the private homes in a variety of ways and there is pressure on the Maryland and Virginia governors to take more action to intervene, The Washington Post reported.
A “non-scalable” fence was erected around the U.S. Supreme Court the first week of May in response to protests that erupted right after the draft was leaked.
Police who were there described the fence as “non-scalable” and similar to what was erected around the U.S. Capitol complex after the Capitol riot, NBC News reported.
On Wednesday, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan released a statement that said the incident at Kavanaugh’s home underscored the need for additional security for the members of the highest court in the land, The Washington Post reported.
“I call on leaders in both parties in Washington to strongly condemn these actions in no uncertain terms,” Hogan’s statement read. “It is vital to our constitutional system that the justices be able to carry out their duties without fear of violence against them and their families.”
Holly Matkin
