A machete and three knives that U.S. Capitol Police say were confiscated from a man who was arrested at a Capitol screening checkpoint as former President Jimmy Carter lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda, Jan. 8, 2025.
Source: The United States Capitol Police
Police arrested a man trying to enter the U.S. Capitol with a machete and three knives Wednesday as former President Jimmy Carter, who died in late December, lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda.
The arrest took place just hours before President-elect Donald Trump was scheduled to visit the Capitol to pay his respects to Carter and meet with Republican senators.
The man, 44-year-old Mel Horne of Washington, D.C., was stopped when police officers spotted the machete in his bag during an X-ray screening in the Capitol Visitor Center just after 2 p.m. ET, according to the U.S. Capitol Police.
Officers said they also found three knives in the bag.
The discoveries prompted police to shut down security screenings at the north side of the visitor center for about an hour, the USCP said.
Horne was arrested on multiple charges of carrying a dangerous weapon.
“Our officers know they cannot let their guard down for one second,” USCP Chief Thomas Manger said in a press release. “It is this constant focus and attention to detail that helps keep this campus safe.”
Horne will be interviewed to determine his motives, said the USCP. There is no active threat to the Capitol, Congress or the public at this time, police said in the release.
Carter, who died Dec. 29 at age 100, was ceremonially carried into the Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday to lie in state. His casket will remain there until his funeral at Washington National Cathedral on Thursday.
Members of the public were allowed to come to the Capitol starting Tuesday evening to pay their respects to the 39th president. Horne’s arrest did not disrupt public viewing in the Rotunda, police said.
Trump is set to take office on Jan. 20.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday afternoon flew back to Washington, D.C., from Los Angeles, where he attended a briefing with California Gov. Gavin Newsom on the devastating wildfires that are still spreading across swaths of the city.
Biden is scheduled to deliver a eulogy for Carter at Thursday’s funeral service.
