Man Arrested at DC Church Had 200 Explosives

Washington, D.C., police on Sunday arrested a man with hundreds of explosive devices outside a church holding a Mass in honor of the Supreme Court. The man had a manifesto that suggested he was targeting the Supreme Court and Catholics, according to court papers obtained by The Daily Wire.

Louis Geri, a 41-year-old from Arizona and New Jersey, was apprehended outside the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle on October 5, the same day the church held its annual “Red Mass” in which a cardinal prays for the high court as it embarks on a new term, and which is historically attended by justices.

Geri was occupying a green tent on the steps of the church when police attempted to clear the area in preparation for the Supreme Court event. He told police, “You might want to stay back and call the federales, I have explosives,” according to an affidavit.

A member of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Bomb Squad then told him he needed to move because of a special event. He replied, “I’m aware of that (referring to the Red Mass),” police wrote, and threatened to throw a bomb into the street as a demonstration, adding, “I have a hundred plus of them.”

Police said they would remove him against his will, and he replied, “Several of your people are gonna die from one of these.” With a lighter in one hand, he handed them nine pieces of paper that amounted to a manifesto entitled, “Written Negotiations for the Avoidance of Destruction of Property via Detonation of Explosives.”

The manifesto “revealed his significant animosity towards the Catholic church, members of the Jewish faith, members of SCOTUS and ICE/ ICE facilities,” police wrote, indicating that the incident may be the latest in a string of left-wing domestic terrorism.

Geri “then shifted his right thumb over top of the butane lighter to initiate the lighting action and stated, ‘You better have these people step away or there’s going to be deaths.'”

Geri then left the tent to urinate on a tree and was apprehended by three officers, at which point he said he had a device in his pocket. A bomb squad technician located in his pocket “a vial with a white cap, which contained yellow liquid inside, with an M-device taped to the exterior.”

After he was arrested, the bomb squad located “a large cache of handmade destructive devices” in the tent, police said. He was charged with: Unlawful Entry, Manufacture, Transfer, Use, Possession or Transportation of Molotov Cocktails, or other Explosives for Unlawful purposes, Threats to Kidnap or Injure a person, Assault on Police Officer x 2, Possession of Destructive Device, Manufacture or Possession of Weapon of Mass Destruction (Hate Crime) and Resisting Arrest.

On Monday, after reviewing the bombs more carefully, police filed an affidavit from a bomb technician saying “there were over 200 devices recovered from D-1’s tent. There was a strong smell of acetone emitting from some of the vials. Some of the liquid was determined to be Nitro Methane. The liquid appeared to be multiple chemicals mixed together, none in original containers … the devices appeared to be fully functional.”

Police said that in a jailhouse interview, Geri “described his devices as grenades and explosives containing Nitro Methane with a rubber band securing a fuse to be used for detonation. [He] also stated he planned to use the modified bottle rockets with the aluminum foil heads attached and treated in a Thermite solution to allow for his detonation of the devices from a distance.”

He is being held in jail without bond.

No justices attended the mass this year because of security concerns, according to the National Catholic Reporter – concerns which appear to have been justified. Last year, three justices, all conservative, attended: John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. In 2018, leftists were photographed protesting the mass with signs that said “Stop Kavanaugh,” and referring to the false smear peddled by Democrat senators that Kavanaugh was a gang-rapist.

The potential assassination of a large number of justices came just two days after a Joe Biden-appointed judge issued a lenient sentence to Nicholas Roske, who attempted to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2022. In that case, Judge Deborah Boardman departed from sentencing guidelines by 22 years, sentencing Roske to just eight years instead of the 30 years-to-life called for by sentencing guidelines. Prosecutors had warned that a stiffer sentence was needed to deter others from attempting to assassinate justices, and this new incident could add to calls from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to impeach Judge Boardman.

According to public records reviewed by The Daily Wire, Geri was from Vineland, New Jersey, but had been living in a motel in Mesa, Arizona, for the last several years. In 2021, an Arizona jury found him guilty of indecent exposure. He was admitted to state prison in August 2022 and released in May 2023, according to the Arizona Department of Corrections.