Chinanews.com, August 21. According to a report by the American Chinese website, on the 19th local time, a man from North Carolina made a bomb threat outside the Library of Congress, causing a large-scale evacuation of the congressional area.
The man was charged on the 20th with the crime of threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to use an explosive device.
The judge ordered him to undergo psychiatric evaluation.
On August 19, local time, a man drove a black pickup to the Library of Congress and claimed that there was a bomb in the vehicle.
The incident led to the blockade of the streets around the U.S. Capitol, and the police also evacuated staff from surrounding congressional buildings and the Federal Supreme Court.
The picture shows that Independence Avenue on the south side of the American Chamber of Commerce was blocked.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Mengtong
On the afternoon of the 20th, local time, the 49-year-old Rossberg participated in the first hearing by video. The judge in charge of this case was the US District Judge Farouki.
Rothberg told the judge that he could not fully understand what was happening now, because during his detention, the prison refused to provide him with antihypertensive drugs and "psychiatric drugs."
He initially stated that he had been in jail for a week, and later changed his name to say that it had been two days. In fact, he had only been in jail for less than 24 hours.
Judge Faroukhi ordered a psychiatric evaluation of Rossberg to confirm his ability to accept the next trial.
The judge also ordered him to continue to be detained without bail.
Rothberg was charged with threats to use weapons of mass destruction and attempted to use explosive devices.
If found guilty, he could face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
His next court appearance is set for August 25.
On the 19th local time, Rossberg drove an unlicensed black pickup truck and parked on the sidewalk outside the Library of Congress, claiming that there was a bomb in the car and threatening to detonate, which prompted the emergency evacuation of many buildings in the area.
After confronting the police for 5 hours, Rossberg voluntarily surrendered, and he was subsequently imprisoned.
The police said no bombs were found in Rossberg’s pickup, but he did possess suspicious bomb-making materials.
The motive of the suspect has not yet been determined, and there is "no indication" that Rossberg committed the crime with others.
In addition, Rossberg also launched a "live broadcast" on social media Facebook when he was in the car, expressing his dissatisfaction with the government, including the situation in Afghanistan, medical insurance, and the military, and threatened the use of bombs.