Alabama Man Had Guns, Explosives Near Capitol: DOJ

WASHINGTON, DC — An Alabama resident is among 13 people facing charges in federal court in connection to the riot and siege at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.

Federal officials identified the Alabama resident as Lonnie Coffman.

Coffman was charged on Thursday with possession of an unregistered firearm (destructive device) and carrying a pistol without a license. According to the report from the U.S Department of Justice, Coffman’s car contained 11 Molotov cocktails and two firearms.

Records from the DOJ said that just after 12:30 p.m., reports of explosive devices near the Republican National Club and the Democratic National Committee headquarters were relayed to the United States Capitol Police.

Police investigations led them to a red GMC truck that was registered to Coffman, officials said. One black handgun was recovered from the right front passenger seat of the vehicle. After locating the black handgun, officers proceeded to search the rest of the pickup truck, including the bed of the truck, which was secured under a fabric top.

During the search of the cab of the truck, officials said they recovered, among other things, one M4 Carbine assault rifle along with rifle magazines loaded with ammunition. Neither gun was registered to Coffman.

In addition, officials say they recovered the following items in the bed of the pickup truck in close proximity to one another: 11 mason jars containing an unknown liquid with a golf tee in the top of each jar; cloth rags; and lighters.

The DOJ report said that after finding these materials, bomb technicians observed that the items appeared to be consistent with components for an explosive or incendiary device known as a "Molotov Cocktail."

Based on this discovery, additional personnel were called to the scene, including the United States Capitol Police Hazardous Materials Team. A preliminary test by the United States Capitol Police Hazardous Material Team determined that the liquid in the mason jars was an igniting substance and that it had a spectrograph profile consistent with gasoline.

Coffman was identified by law enforcement when he was said to be attempting to locate his vehicle and asked an officer for assistance, saying his name and that his vehicle was a red GMC Sierra, officials said.

"The man asked officers whether they had located the bombs, which officers initially understood to be a reference to the components to the destructive devices located in Coffman's truck, but later understood to be a reference to the secure perimeter that had been set up by law enforcement, which perimeter had kept Coffman from returning to his car earlier," the DOJ affidavit states.

His detention hearing is scheduled for Jan. 12, 2021.