An armed man demanding to speak to the Wisconsin governor was arrested in the state capitol, posted bail, and returned – only to be arrested again.
The shirtless man, who had a holstered handgun, was taken into custody on Wednesday afternoon for illegally carrying a firearm in the building.
But he posted bail and returned that evening with an assault-style rifle.
Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, was not in his capitol office at the time, according to a state official.
But the governor’s office itself declined to comment, telling the BBC “we do not comment on specific security threats or the governor’s security detail”.
Mr Evers had been present in the Capitol earlier on Wednesday to meet individuals testifying against a series of bills.
Speaking to reporters at an event in Oregon on Thursday, he said “I’m OK.”
“To their credit, the capitol police took control of the situation so it’s over, but it’s always something you don’t want to see happen,” he said.
Asked about security protocols, he added: “I never, ever talk about what my security detail does or what they’re planning on doing. But anytime something like this happens, obviously they re-evaluate.”
The armed man approached Mr Evers’ office around 15:00 EST (19:00 GMT) on Wednesday, according to Tatyana Warrick, a spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Department of Administration.
She said he had a leashed dog with him when he appeared at the security desk outside the governor’s office and refused to leave until he met Mr Evers.
A single police officer sits at the desk on the building’s first floor, which also houses a conference room and offices for the attorney general.
The public has free access to the capitol building. Two officers are posted in its rotunda and there are no metal detectors at entryways.
Weapons can be brought into the building if they are concealed and the carrier holds a valid permit, but the man was carrying it openly and did not have a permit.
Ms Warrick said he had been arrested by capitol police without incident, with his firearm seized as evidence and his dog turned over to the city’s animal control.
Mobile phone footage of the man’s arrest that was provided to the Associated Press reportedly shows him saying that he is “not a threat” but admitting “I broke that law”.
Police told the Washington Post he had been booked into the Dane County Jail and had posted his $500 (£410) bail himself.
According to Ms Warrick, he returned again to the capitol grounds just before 22:00 EST carrying a loaded AK 47-style rifle. The building closes at 19:00 EST.
Officers spoke to him, asked to search his backpack and found “a collapsible police-style baton, which is illegal as the man did not have a valid concealed carry permit”, Ms Warrick said.
The would-be assailant was taken into custody a second time on Wednesday night for a psychiatric evaluation “based on concerning statements”, she said.
Ms Warrick could not confirm to the BBC if the man remains in custody.
Police for the city of Madison also did not confirm the man’s whereabouts, but said in a police report: “The subject was taken into protective custody and conveyed to a local hospital.”
The man has not yet been publicly identified, but capitol police named the man in a bulletin sent to lawmakers and their staff on Thursday with his photo attached.
Police said he told them he “would continue coming to the capitol until he spoke to the governor about domestic abuse towards men”.
They added that he “likely has access to a large amount of weapons and is comfortable using them”, and that lawmakers should “use extreme caution when in contact” with him.
Lawmakers had not been notified, however, of either previous incident until Thursday morning.
No court charges appeared to have been filed against the man as of Thursday.
Evers has become a target of violent threats
Public and elected officials across the US currently face a rising number of threats in violence.
They include high-profile figures, such as governors and Supreme Court judges, as well as lesser-known individuals like local school board members.
Mr Evers was elected Wisconsin’s governor in 2018 and was re-elected last year, both times by narrow margins in a state that is closely contested between the two parties.
The former educator’s governorship has effectively served as a one-man veto against several pieces of Republican-backed legislation.
In June, a Madison resident was sentenced to one year in prison for making dozens of threats, via voicemail, email, Facebook and other methods, against Mr Evers and other state officials.
His warnings to Mr Evers were of a highly graphic nature, including messages that referred to the governor as a “dead man walking” and “a marked man”.
Thursday’s incident comes more than a year after Mr Evers appeared on the hit list of a gunman previously accused of zip-tying and fatally shooting a retired county judge at his Wisconsin home.
The hit list with Mr Evers’ name on it also included those of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Michigan’s Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer, the target of a kidnapping plot in 2020.
Source : BBC
