Man With Armed Pickup At Capitol Building Faces Multiple Indictments

Photo illustration (Jeremy Alford / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - A jury in Washington DC, United States (US) has charged a man from Alabama with a number of charges. He was charged after his pickup truck was found parked in front of the US Capitol Building loaded with guns.

Not just weapons. The pickup truck also found jars filled with gasoline and other ingredients to make nearly a dozen Molotov. Quoting Fox News, Wednesday, January 13, 2021, the man named Lonnie Leroy Coffman, aged 70 years.

He faces 17 weapons-related charges, the most serious charges filed by the Justice Department so far in connection with the riots at the US Capitol Building. When rioters broke into the Capitol Building on Wednesday, January 6, US Capitol Police (USCP) officers simultaneously responded to reports of possible explosives in the area surrounding the Capitol.

During a sweep of the area, officers observed a handle that looked like a firearm on the front right passenger seat of a red pickup truck with the Alabama label on it. The news refers to a criminal complaint filed on Friday, January 8, 2021 by the US Attorney's Office, District of Columbia.

A law enforcement database check from the STNK revealed the vehicle was registered to Lonnie L. Coffman with a home address in Falkville, Alabama. The USCP Bomb Squad members then searched the vehicle and secured one pistol, an M4 Carbine assault rifle along with rifles, various ammunition, and components to make Molotov in a jar.

Coffman was successfully arrested on his way back to his pickup truck, the complaint said. He was later searched and found to have a Smith & Wesson 9mm pistol, a .22 caliber derringer model pistol, and two sets of vehicle keys that matched the pickup truck. He was detained over the weekend.

After being arrested, Coffman confessed to the officers that the jar contained liquid styrofoam and gasoline. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) explained that the combination of liquid styrofoam and gasoline is a mixture of explosives that has a flammable effect.

Unlike the other defendants who were indicted by the Department of Justice on Tuesday, January 12, 2021, Coffman was not accused of breaking into the US Capitol Building in the action carried out on January 6. A jury in Washington DC charged a second person, Mark Jefferson Leffingwell, on seven counts relating to violence inside the Capitol Building.

Also on the day the Capitol Building was stormed, two pipe bombs were found in the offices of the Republican and Democratic national committee in Washington DC. On Monday January 10, the FBI released new surveillance photos of the suspect allegedly responsible for placing the bomb. The image shows a person in a hoodie and face covering, wearing gloves and carrying a dark backpack.

Wild protests

On Wednesday, January 6, 2021, a pro-Donald Trump mob stormed the US Capitol Building to stop the tally of the electoral college vote won by Joe Biden. This action came after the crowd heated up by Trump.

"Come here, it's going to be wild!" Trump said on his Twitter account that heralded the raid.

Another supporter of the January 6 protests was Turning Point Action, the political action committee of Turning Point USA, a right-wing campus group led by activist Charlie Kirk. Turning Point spokesman Andrew Kolvet said the organization added his name to the event after Christmas at the request of Women for America First.

“We don't organize the event. We just like helping students attend rallies and not parades, "said Kolvet.

Turning Point Action sent seven buses carrying 350 people to the demonstration on January 6, Kolvet said. The organization, he said, "condemns political violence."