A man with an active warrant for Jan.6-related offenses who had weapons and materials in his van to make incendiary devices was reportedly arrested while running toward former President Barack Obama’s Washington, D.C., home on Thursday.
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Taylor Taranto, 37, was spotted by Secret Service within blocks of the Obama’s home, according to a law enforcement official who spoke with CBS News. Secret Service chased Taranto, and he was apprehended before reaching the former president’s house.
The official briefed on the arrest said Taranto’s van was parked close to where he was arrested, with several weapons and the items to make an explosive resembling a Molotov cocktail inside. While the Seattle, Washington, man said he had explosives, only the materials to make them were found, as the incendiary device was not assembled.
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Taranto had reportedly made threats during recent livestreams against a public figure, which concerned federal officials. Additionally, he had an open warrant on charges related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“He wasn’t in Obama’s neighborhood by mistake,” a U.S. official noted to CBS.
After the news of the arrest broke Thursday evening, an NBC News justice reporter made a startling realization.
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“Donald Trump recently posted a screenshot featuring Barack Obama’s DC address,” Ryan J. Reilly tweeted.
Reilly said Taranto, who had been living in a van by the D.C. Jail and “creeped out” other Jan. 6 supporters, saw the screenshot and reposted it, adding, “Got them surrounded!”
Taranto was reportedly identified as a participant in the Capitol riot by online sleuths and “faces a lawsuit from the widow of a Washington police officer who died by suicide,” Reilly reported.
