Man Charged By Capitol Police For Possession Of Machete, Bayonet Outside DNC Headquarters

WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Capitol Police arrested a California man early Monday morning outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters who had a machete and bayonet in his pickup truck and had a swastika painted on the side of the vehicle, according to the police department.

The driver, Donald Craighead, 44, of Oceanside, California, was arrested for possession of prohibited weapons. Possession of machetes and bayonets is illegal in the District of Columbia.

Craighead's arrest comes almost a month after a North Carolina man surrendered after he told police he had a bomb in his pickup truck parked on a sidewalk outside the Library of Congress on Capitol Hill. The bomb threat by the suspect, 49-year-old Floyd Ray Roseberry of Grover, North Carolina, led to the evacuation of a large part of the area near the U.S. Capitol.

Around midnight, a Capitol Police officer was on patrol when he noticed a Dodge Dakota pickup truck, with the swastika and other white supremacist symbols painted on it, in the 500 block of South Capitol Street outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters.

“This is good police work plain and simple,” Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said in a statement Monday. “We applaud the officers’ keen observation and the teamwork that resulted in this arrest.”

SEE ALSO: Capitol Hill Bomb Threat Standoff Ends After NC Man Surrenders

The truck did not have a license plate. Instead, a picture of an American flag was placed where the license plate should have been. The Capitol Police officer pulled over the truck along the 500 block of South Capitol Street, SW.

The North Carolina man who threatened to bomb the area outside the Library of Congress last month also did not have a license plate on his pickup truck.

Craighead told the police officer he was “on patrol” and began talking about white supremacist ideology, the department said.

The Capitol Police are continuing their investigation of the suspect. At this time, it is not clear if he was planning to attend any upcoming demonstrations or if he has ties to any previous cases in the area.

Craighead's arrest comes more than eight months after pipe bombs were left outside the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee in D.C. a day before thousands of pro-Donald Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Police still have not arrested a suspect in connection with the planting of the two pipe bombs.

Trump supporters are planning to hold a rally in D.C. on Saturday, Sept. 18 to call for the release of the people jailed for the participation in the Jan. 6 insurrection. Law enforcement officials are bracing for violence from the participants in the rally.

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