This post has been updated.
An armed California man named Nicholas John Roske was arrested early Wednesday morning near Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home in Maryland after he allegedly told law enforcement that he wanted to kill the justice.
According to the FBI’s complaint, two U.S. Deputy Marshals spotted Roske emerge from a taxicab in front of Kavanaugh’s residence dressed in black clothing and carrying a backpack and a suitcase at around 1:05 a.m. ET.
Roske allegedly looked at the two deputy marshals and walked away down the street.
The complaint reports that Montgomery County Emergency Communications Center then got a call from someone who identified himself as Roske, who told the dispatcher that he had come from California to kill a specific Supreme Court justice, that he was having suicidal thoughts and that he was carrying a firearm in his suitcase.
The Montgomery County Police were dispatched to a location near Kavanaugh’s home, where they allegedly found Roske still on the phone with the emergency center.
According to the FBI, Roske was taken into custody “without incident,” and his backpack and suitcase were seized.
Law enforcement found “a black tactical chest rig and tactical knife, a Glock 17 pistol with two magazines and ammunition, pepper spray, zip ties, a hammer, screwdriver, nail punch, crow bar, pistol light, duct tape, hiking boots with padding on the outside of the soles, and other items,” the complaint states.
Roske allegedly told a detective he was angry about the Supreme Court preparing to overturn Roe v. Wade and the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and decided to kill Kavanaugh after finding his address online.
According to the complaint, Roske “indicated that he believed the justice that he intended to kill would side with Second Amendment decisions that would loosen gun control laws.”
Roske also allegedly “indicated” that he had bought the Glock pistol and other items specifically for the purpose of breaking into Kavanaugh’s home and killing the justice before turning the gun on himself, per the complaint.
The Washington Post first reported on Wednesday that a man from California carrying at least one weapon was arrested near Kavanaugh’s home.
A spokesperson for the Supreme Court confirmed the Post’s report later.
“At approximately 1:50 a.m. today, a man was arrested near Justice Kavanaugh’s residence,” the spokesperson said. “The man was armed and made threats against Justice Kavanaugh. He was transported to Montgomery County Police 2nd District.”
The Post had reported that the police were apparently tipped off to a potential threat to Kavanaugh, though it was unclear where the tip came from at the time.
