NC Man Charged With Threatening 'Weapon Of Mass Destruction' Use

WASHINGTON, DC — A North Carolina man who threatened to blow up an area near the U.S. Capitol faces charges of threatening to use explosives and "a weapon of mass destruction."

Floyd Ray Roseberry of Grover, North Carolina, surrendered to authorities Thursday about five hours after he drove a pickup truck onto a sidewalk outside the Library of Congress.

The threat to use a weapon of mass destruction carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, and the threat by explosives charge carries up to 10 years, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said.

Roseberry had demanded to speak to President Joe Biden about a range of grievances and claimed if he was shot, his vehicle and four others would explode.

At Roseberry’s first court appearance on Friday afternoon, a federal judge ordered him detained pending a competency evaluation and a court hearing scheduled for 4 p.m. next Wednesday.

RELATED: Capitol Hill Bomb Threat Standoff Ends After NC Man Surrenders

According to the charging documents, Roseberry made the threats from inside a black Chevrolet pickup truck with no license plates that was parked at First Street SE and Independence Avenue.

While inside the truck, Roseberry broadcast live video and audio through his Facebook account.

The affidavit also said a local law enforcement official in Cleveland County, North Carolina, had contacted the FBI on Thursday “to report that the official recognized Roseberry as the subject of a report" received Wednesday by someone related to Roseberry.

The relative said Roseberry had recently expressed anti-government views and "an intent to travel to Virginia or Washington, D.C. to conduct acts of violence,” the affidavit said.

Roseberry was taken into custody around 2:15 p.m. Thursday.

Old videos on his Facebook page, which has been taken down, show he attended at least one rally to overturn the 2020 presidential election, the “Million MAGA March” in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 14, 2020, the Daily Beast reported.

The threat came four months after a Capitol Police officer was killed by a man who rammed his car into barriers near the Capitol building and six months after supporters of then-President Donald Trump overran police and took over the building.