A man police say was carrying a gun, a knife and pepper spray outside Brett Kavanaugh’s home has been arrested after he told authorities he wanted to kill the Supreme Court justice.
Police told The Washington Post that the man, who appeared to be in his mid-20s, did not make it onto the Maryland property and was stopped on a nearby street.
A Supreme Court spokesperson confirmed the report, telling SCOTUSblog in a statement, “At approximately 1:50 a.m. today, a man was arrested near Justice Kavanaugh’s residence. The man was armed and made threats against Justice Kavanaugh. He was transported to Montgomery County Police 2nd District.”
The man reportedly took a taxi to the area and called 911 himself, telling the dispatcher he’d traveled from California, was having suicidal and homicidal thoughts, and had an unloaded gun with him in a locked case.
Officers took the man, identified in a criminal complaint Wednesday afternoon as Nicholas John Roske, into custody without incident.
According to the complaint, Roske told detectives he “was upset about the leak of a recent Supreme Court draft decision regarding the right to abortion as well as the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.” He also told detectives he thought killing the justice would give his life purpose.
Roske was charged Wednesday in federal court with attempting to murder a Supreme Court justice.
Federal agents in unmarked cars were seen parked outside the residence Wednesday morning.
“This kind of behavior is obviously behavior that we will not tolerate,” Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters.
“Threats of violence and actual violence against the justices of course strike at the heart of our democracy, and we will do everything we can to prevent them and to hold people who do them accountable.”
Kavanaugh’s home, along with the homes of other Supreme Court justices, was the site of protests last month after a leaked draft opinion from the court indicated it intends to overturn Roe v. Wade.