A staffer for the House of Representatives was arrested on Thursday after he was found walking into a legislative building with a gun in his bag.
Jeffrey Allsbrooks claimed he forgot that the gun was inside his bag before entering the Longworth House Office Building. According to U.S. Capitol police, stationed officers "spotted an image of a handgun in a bag on the X-ray screen" after he went through security, leading to his arrest four minutes later. Allsbrooks is charged with carrying a pistol without a license.
The Capitol police are trying to figure out how Allsbrooks was able to proceed into the building with the gun in his bag. Although they did not reveal the extent of their investigation, officers said they were "looking into what happened before, during and after those four minutes."
The incident is one of many that have plagued the U.S. Capitol this year, the most prominent of which was the riot on January 6. Numerous police officers were injured during the incident and one, Brian Sicknick, died one day later after suffering two strokes. Four other officers committed suicide in the weeks and months following the riot.
Another officer died on April 2 when a car was rammed into a barricade outside the Capitol. One officer suffered injuries but recovered. In August, a man claimed he had explosives in his parked truck outside the Library of Congress, leading to nearby evacuations. A man was arrested in September after carrying multiple knives outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters.
D.C. Superior Court told Newsweek that Allsbrooks will be arraigned at 1 p.m. EST on December 10.
Capitol police initiated a brief lockdown during Thursday's incident, telling other workers in the building to stay inside their offices, lock doors and windows and, if they were in a public space, to find a place to hide or seek cover. The lockdown was lifted about nine minutes later.
It is not immediately clear if Allsbrooks has an attorney who could comment on the allegations.
The arrest comes as Capitol police track an unprecedented number of threats against lawmakers, thousands more than just a few years ago. In an interview with the Associated Press in September, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger predicted authorities would respond to close to 9,000 threats against members of Congress in 2021—more than 4,100 had been reported from January to March.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Update 12/09/21, 1:45 p.m. ET: This article was updated to include Allsbrooks' scheduled arraignment.
