Man who claimed to have bomb at Capitol competent for trial

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FILE - In this Aug. 19, 2021, file photo a person is apprehended after being in a pickup truck parked on the sidewalk in front of the Library of Congress' Thomas Jefferson Building, as seen from a window of the U.S. Capitol in Washington. The man who claimed he had a bomb in a pickup truck near the U.S. Capitol last month, prompting evacuations and an hourslong standoff with police, is competent to stand trial, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, Sept. 22. Floyd Ray Roseberry pleaded not guilty in federal court Wednesday to charges that include threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

WASHINGTON – The man who claimed he had a bomb in a pickup truck near the U.S. Capitol last month, prompting evacuations and an hourslong standoff with police, is competent to stand trial, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Floyd Ray Roseberry pleaded not guilty in federal court Wednesday to charges that include threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction.

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The 49-year-old from Grover, North Carolina, drove a black pickup truck onto the sidewalk outside the Library of Congress on Sept. 19 and began shouting to people in the street that he had a bomb. He later made the same bomb threats to police officers and professed a litany of antigovernment grievances as part of a bizarre episode that he livestreamed for a Facebook audience.

Roseberry surrendered after about five hours. Police later said they did not find a bomb but did collect possible bomb-making materials.

During an initial court appearance last month, Roseberry told the judge he had not taken his “mind medicine” and the judge ordered a mental competency hearing.

A psychiatrist found that medication that Roseberry had been taking wasn’t effectively treating the bipolar disorder he was diagnosed with. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui ruled Wednesday that a new treatment has been effective and Roseberry is competent to stand trial.