The Capitol is seen amid autumn's last leaves one week before the crucial midterm elections, in Washington, Monday, Oct. 31, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
By Lindsay Whitehurst
A man with a rifle was arrested in a park near the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, police said.
Police confronted 21-year-old Ahmir Lavon Merrell of Atlanta after someone saw him with the gun in a park near Senate office buildings and told an officer, U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement. Officers demanded that he drop the gun, but he refused and they used a Taser stun gun to subdue him, police said.
The park and roads in the area across from Washington’s Union Station were closed for about two hours as officers searched the area and Merrell's belongings.
Officers said they did not believe there was an ongoing threat. It was not immediately clear why he was in Washington. No publicly listed contacts were available for him, and a lawyer who represented him on a previous case did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said he was proud of officers who “ran toward the man with the loaded gun.”
Carrying firearms is prohibited on U.S. Capitol grounds. So far this year, U.S. Capitol Police have confiscated more than 30 guns.
After the arrest, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he supports a ban on guns often referred to as assault weapons. “We are keeping a constant vigilance on security” in the Capitol, he said.
Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this story.
Jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict on federal civil rights charges Thursday in the trial of a former Louisville police officer charged in the police raid that killed Breonna Taylor, prompting the judge to declare a mistrial.
Communications systems in the Gaza Strip were down for a second day with no fuel to power the internet and phone networks, causing aid agencies to halt cross-border deliveries of humanitarian supplies even as they warned people may soon face starvation.
Nearly nine out of 10 parents believe their child is performing at grade level despite standardized tests showing far fewer students are on track, according to a poll released Wednesday by Gallup and the nonprofit Learning Heroes.
An Iowa teen convicted in the 2021 beating death of a high school Spanish teacher was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison with a possibility of parole in 25 years.
There were still deep differences on economic competition and global security threats. But Biden said they agreed to “pick up the phone” and talk if urgent issues arise. Biden said “that's important progress."
Israel has threatened to expand operations in the south, where hundreds of thousands of people who heeded earlier evacuation orders are crowded into U.N.-run shelters and family homes.
