Man Who ‘Smelled Like Fuel’ With Torch and Flare Gun Arrested at US Capitol

U.S. Capitol Police on Tuesday reported officers arrested a man with a torch and a flare gun at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center.
“Our officers just arrested a man who was stopped during our screening process at the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC). The man smelled like fuel, had a torch & a flare gun,” the police department said in a message posted on X, formerly Twitter, just after 1:30 p.m. ET.
The message added: “The CVC is closed for tours for the day, while we investigate. We will provide more information when we can.”
Capitol Police told Newsweek they are still in the process of investigating the situation. “A press conference will be held around 3 p.m. at First and East Capitol Street, NE,” they said. “It will not be livestreamed at this time.”
Newsweek reached out to the CVC for comment via email on Tuesday.
The CVC, which is beneath the front plaza of the Capitol building, provides visitors with information and education on the House of Representatives, U.S. Senate and the Capitol building architecture, among other things.
The post came just minutes before a specialty tour of the Senate halls was set to take place at 2 p.m. ET. The tour was canceled, as was one an hour later, and the visitor center closed for the day. It is not known if the suspect planned to go on a specific tour.
It is not known if the incident is related to Election Day, when millions of Americans are voting in a tight presidential election, largely between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
There have been other incidents of potential violent threats, with some bomb threats targeting polling stations across the U.S. on Tuesday.
“The FBI is aware of bomb threats to polling locations in several states, many of which appear to originate from Russian email domains,” the FBI said Tuesday. “None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far.”
It comes after Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that a bomb threat was made against multiple polling places in his state. He said that the threat originated from Russia and was deemed not credible.
Update 11/5/24, 2:58 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and context.