On Wednesday, federal prosecutors sought to hold in custody a gunman known as a QAnon conspiracy theorist who was arrested near President Barack Obama’s home in Washington DC last week, claiming he was a delusional and permanent danger that threatened other senior officials, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. .
Taylor Taranto, wanted in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, was arrested June 29 after escaping a day-long police manhunt that began after threatening to detonate explosives in his van while parked at a federal building in Gaithersburg, Md., the Justice Department said in a new July 5 filing.
“Taranto’s own words and actions demonstrate that he is a direct threat to several political figures as well as the general public,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Allison Ethen and Colin Cloherty wrote in a 26-page detention note. “The risk posed by Taranto if released is high and the severity of the consequences that could result are catastrophic.”
Authorities were looking for Taranto before his arrest, but he lived in a van and was on the move. A subsequent search of the van revealed hundreds of nine-millimeter rounds and two firearms, prosecutors said. Previous reports also said authorities had found several weapons and materials that could be put together to make an explosive device.
During an initial court appearance last Friday, Deputy Federal Public Defender Katie Guevara told a judge that Taranto was married and lived in Washington state and had no criminal record, according to reports. She said he had traveled to DC in recent months to accept McCarthy’s public offer to make footage from the Capitol security video available to those involved in the Jan. 6 uprising.
Guevara also said Taranto’s wife and Connecticut-based parents could provide Taranto with housing while he awaits trial. U.S. Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey was scheduled to rule on the Justice Department’s motion in a hearing Wednesday afternoon.
According to prosecutors, Taranto posted numerous articles about various conspiracy theories on social media platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, Truth Social, Parler and Telegram. Most of them focused on Jan. 6, they said, along with “a belief that the 2020 election was fraudulent and an endorsement of the theories that ‘QAnon’ supporters are promoting.” His messages, according to the detention memo, also stated “in unequivocal terms that Taranto does not recognize governmental authority.”
Taranto’s behavior, described by prosecutors as erratic and dangerous, escalated by On June 28, when he started livestreaming on a publicly available YouTube channel, he was in Gaithersburg and headed to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST. He said he was on a “one-way mission” to blow up his van there, and that the vehicle was self-driving so he wouldn’t have to be nearby when he “went off,” the detention memo reads.
The FBI, which was monitoring Taranto’s online activities due to his involvement in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, immediately began looking for him and alerted other law enforcement partners.
After an arrest warrant was issued June 29 for his alleged Jan. 6 crimes, Taranto resumed livestreaming, prosecutors said, this time driving his van to the upscale residence where live Obama and his family, then got out of the car and walked. around.
“While walking around, he made several disturbing statements about residences in the area, saying he was looking for ‘entry points’, had ‘control’ of the block and ‘surrounded them’ and that he was going to find one up to the “tunnels under their homes,” prosecutors said. “He also repeatedly stated that he was trying to get a ‘shot’ and wanted to get a ‘good angle on a shot. “.
Taranto was spotted by the Secret Service a few blocks from Obama’s house and was apprehended as he ran towards her.
In their detention note, prosecutors also suggested that former President Donald Trump was the one who told Taranto of Obama’s home address.
On June 29, they said, Trump posted what he claimed was Obama’s address on his social media platform, Truth Social. Taranto used his own Truth Social account to repost the address, the detention memo said, adding, “On Telegram, Taranto then said, ‘We’ve got these losers surrounded! See you in hell, at Podesta and Obama. “
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump Released Obama’s Speech Says Feds Leading Neighborhood Stalker