Washington D.C. home of former president Barack Obama.
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A man was spotted running towards Obama’s house, law enforcement officials told CBS News.
The man, Taylor Taranto, has an open warrant on charges stemming from the January 6, 2021 riot.
Taranto was also sued by the widow of a Metropolitan Police Department officer who died by suicide.
A man who is suspected of participating in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot was arrested on Thursday after being spotted running toward Barack Obama’s house in a Washington, DC neighborhood, law enforcement officials told CBS News.
Officials alleged that the man, Taylor Taranto, 37, also had multiple weapons and materials to make an explosive device similar to a Molotov cocktail, CBS News reported. He was seen by Secret Service agents several blocks away from the house, according to the report.
It’s unclear if the Obamas were at home at the time.
A Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) spokesperson told Insider that officers and federal law enforcement partners arrested Taranto. The department requested an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team to “perform a vehicle sweep” of the van that was near the arrest location.
According to ABC News, Taranto has an open warrant related to his activities on January 6, 2021.
The MPD spokesperson said in an email that Taranto had been charged with being a fugitive from justice pursuant to an arrest warrant but did not specify what the warrant was for.
Several months after January 6, 2021, online sleuths identified Taranto as one of the participants of the riot, HuffPost reported. One of the pieces of evidence included Taranto admitting on social media that he was at the Capitol, according to a Facebook post viewed by HuffPost.
Taranto is also facing a lawsuit that was filed by Erin Smith, the widow of Metropolitan Police Department officer Jeff Smith who was inside the Capitol building at the time of the riot.
According to the lawsuit, Smith was struck in the head with a “cane or crowbar” that Taranto is alleged to have handed to another rioter.
Smith died by suicide nine days after the incident.