US Capitol Police have identified the man arrested Wednesday after allegedly trying to set a car on fire as President-elect Donald Trump paid tribute to former President Jimmy Carter, who was lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC
Virginia man Adrian J. Hinton, 35, is the suspect, police said Thursday morning.
He is facing unlawful activity charges after he allegedly placed a burning sack on top of a car near the Grant Memorial around 5:30 p.m.
The bag burned without igniting anything else, authorities said.
The US Capitol building surrounded by a fence in preparation for January 6, 2025. (Fox News Digital)
It was loaded with accelerants and Hinton’s vehicle was covered in paint, according to Capitol Police.
Hinton’s arrest was one of two threatening incidents at the Capitol on Wednesday, when Trump, lawmakers and thousands of Americans lined up to pay tribute to Carter.
The police too arrested a man who allegedly arrived at the Capitol about three hours earlier with an array of knives, including a machete, which he tried to sneak through an X-ray security checkpoint at the Capitol Visitor Center.
Mel J. Horne, 44, faces multiple counts of carrying a dangerous weapon.
US Capitol Police stopped a man from entering the Capitol at a security checkpoint after he was allegedly found to have a machete and three knives in his bag. (US Capitol Police)
Capitol Police said they didn’t believe it two incidents were connected. Neither arrest ended service for Carter.
“Twice today, our officers stopped a man who could have been a danger to the Capitol Hill community,” US Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said in a statement. “That vigilance is critical in this time of heightened security.”
Carter was scheduled to lie in state from 7:30 p.m. Tuesday until 7 a.m. Thursday.
A Boy Scout troop salutes as they pay their respects in front of the flag-draped casket at a state ceremony for former President Jimmy Carter in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, January 8, 2025. Carter, the 39th president of the United States, died at the age of 100 on December 29 2024 at his home in Plains, Georgia. (SAMUEL CORUM/AFP via Getty Images)
The former president, who was the 39th man in office, died on December 29 at the age of 100.
Carter, a Democrat, was a devout Christian who served in the Navy and was also the governor of Georgia before being elected to the White House.
His signature achievement may have been the Camp David Accords, which sought to stabilize the Middle East with an agreement involving Israel and Egypt. But his inability to resolve the hostage crisis in Iran likely cost him re-election.
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All five living presidents She is expected to attend his funeral Thursday morning, where outgoing President Joe Biden was scheduled to deliver the eulogy.
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten of Fox News contributed to this report.
