NC man in custody for bomb threat near US Capitol. Here’s more about the suspect.
FBI agents, Cleveland County sheriff’s deputies and other law enforcement agencies swarmed the home of a man on Thursday arrested after threatening to blow up a truck full of explosives near the U.S. Capitol.
Floyd Ray Roseberry, 49, of Grover parked his pickup truck for several hours in front of the Library of Congress and said he had explosives, according to Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger. Grover is about 40 miles west of Charlotte.
In a Facebook video reviewed by the Observer, Roseberry said he had explosives in his pickup truck.
Capitol Police didn’t find a bomb in the truck, “but possible bomb making materials were collected from the truck,” according to a news release by the agency.
A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the platform removed a page with several livestream videos from Roseberry saying he was inside the truck with explosive materials, McClatchy News reported.
In comments aimed at President Joe Biden, Roseberry says, ”I’m all ready to die for the cause. And brother, if you could do anything to save one life, one life, you said you’d do it. Well, you got a chance. I want to go home. I want to go home and see my wife.
“We’re living in a free country, Joe. The choice is yours. If you want to shoot me and take the chance of blowing up two-and-a-half city blocks, ‘cause that tool box is full, ammonium nitrate is full.
“I don’t want to die, Joe. I want to go home, just like the people of Afghanistan want to go home. All them dead people are on your hands, too.”
Roseberry had recently lost members of his family, including his mother, Manger said.
“There were other issues that he was dealing with,” Manger said, citing conversations with Roseberry’s family.
It’s not known if Roseberry had a military or law enforcement background, Manger said.
“Right now, we have no indication that he was acting with anyone else,” Manger said.
A woman identified as Roseberry’s wife told NBC News that her husband had mental health issues and recently changed medications. She said Roseberry left North Carolina on Wednesday night, telling her he was going on a fishing trip.
What records show about Roseberry
Roseberry also was known as Bubba Roseberry, according to the N.C. Department of Public Safety. He was convicted in February 1989 of larceny and operating a vehicle without a license — both misdemeanors — and received probation and a suspended sentence.
Public records also show multiple criminal offenses in Roseberry’s past, but none since 2010.
Roseberry had a “limited” arrest history in Cleveland County, Sheriff Alan Norman said during a news conference in Grover.
Roseberry was listed as an assistant supervisor at a company called Ithaca Industries Inc. Ithaca manufactured and sold apparel, according to a records search by the (Raleigh) News & Observer. However the company has not filed an annual report with the N.C. Secretary of State since 2001.
Scene in Grover
Late Thursday afternoon, the road outside Roseberry’s home in Grover remained blocked to traffic.
At a news conference outside the Roseberry home on Thursday, Norman and Robert Wells, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Charlotte office, said they didn’t suspect a threat to the public, but they were waiting for a judge to approve warrants allowing them to search the home.
Wells declined to say if Roseberry’s family has cooperated with the FBI.
He said the FBI is investigating whether Roseberry was involved in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
“It’s too soon to tell,” Wells said.
At least 13 people from North Carolina, including one from Cleveland County, face charges in the Jan. 6 assault.
Wells also declined comment about reports by neighbors of recent loud bangs in the home.
Neighbor Tina Haskin said she didn’t know Roseberry and never expected anything in her neighborhood like what happened Thursday when deputies’ cars arrived at the home.
Haskin said investigators had not interviewed her.
Hand-written signs
Capitol Police said Roseberry drove onto the sidewalk in front of the Library of Congress at about 9:15 a.m. and told an officer that he had a bomb. The officer saw what looked like a detonator in the man’s hand.
Officers immediately evacuated the Library of Congress buildings, the Cannon Office Building and others.
Congress was on recess, “but some people were still working in the buildings,” according to the police news release.
Roseberry communicated with police by holding up hand-written signs through the front driver’s side window, Capitol Police said. Officers brought him a phone “in hopes of trying to continue the dialogue,” but Roseberry left the truck and officers took him into custody, according to the police statement.
Observer staff writers Jonathan Limehouse and Rogelio Aranda and (Raleigh) News & Observer staff writer Tyler Dukes contributed.
This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 3:03 PM.