Arrest of Man with Explosives Outside Washington D.C. Cathedral

A man suspected of harboring a large arsenal of explosives was detained before an annual religious service in Washington, D.C. Court documents reveal that Louis Geri, 41, had set up a tent outside the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, where the Red Mass—a ceremony marking the start of the Supreme Court’s term—was about to take place.

Inside his tent, police discovered at least 200 homemade explosive devices, including glass vials containing nitromethane—a substance linked to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The devices appeared operational, with some modified bottle rockets with aluminum foil heads. Geri was found refusing to leave the tent, while claiming to have additional explosives and threatening violence.

During negotiations, Geri provided officers a notebook titled “Written Negotiations for the Avoidance of Destruction of Property via Detonation of Explosives,” in which he expressed extreme hostility towards the Catholic Church, Supreme Court justices, Jews, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

He also displayed several vials with yellow liquid taped to them, which he threatened to detonate unless police backed off. Geri’s threats included claims of multiple bombs and warnings of potential loss of life if force was used to detain him.

Authorities called the bomb squad, and Geri was eventually handcuffed after a brief struggle when he stepped out of the tent to urinate. The cache of explosives was seized and sent for FBI analysis. Some substances, like nitromethane, have a history of being used in past terrorist attacks.

Geri faces multiple charges, including manufacturing or possessing a weapon of mass destruction for a hate crime. He has been ordered held without bail, amid concerns over the severity of the threat he posed to public safety.