Antioch Man Gets 11 Months In U.S. Capitol Shooting Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An Antioch man will serve 11 months for pointing what turned out to be a Daisy BB gun at U.S. Capitol Police in a 2016 incident that shut down the Capitol.

Larry Russell Dawson, 67, of Antioch, pleaded guilty in December in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers while using a deadly or dangerous weapon and was sentenced Monday to 11 months in prison.

On the afternoon of March 28, 2016, Dawson entered the Capitol Building and set off the walk-through metal detector three times. He was then scanned with a hand-held detector and as the device beeped near his waist level, removed what appeared to be a black handgun. In a tussle with the officer, Dawson managed to grab the hand-held detector and move into the Visitors' Center. He then pointed the gun at the officer who had screened him, ignored commands to drop the weapon and walked towards the officer. He was then shot by Capitol Police, who then arrested him and took him to a nearby hospital. The incident led to the Capitol being put on lockdown.

Later, units recovered the gun, which turned out to be a Daisy BB gun that resembled a semi-automatic handgun. Under federal law, even an imitation gun can qualify as a dangerous weapon in certain circumstances.

Dawson also pleaded guilty in December for failing to appear at a hearing on another case in which he is charged with disrupting Congress and resisting a police officer. He received a 90 day sentence on that charge Monday, as well.

Dawson is a former funeral director in the Nashville area and was committed to a mental institution in 2005 after writing inappropriate letters to a Williamson County teenager who Dawson — who called himself "Prophet Larry Dawson" in the letters — said God had chosen for him to be his wife and mother of his children. He met the girl while working as a Williamson County school bus driver.

Image via Wikimedia Commons user David Maiolo, used under Creative Commons.