A California man was arrested Tuesday after police spotted a large guillotine in the back of a pickup truck near the U.S. Capitol, authorities said.
Officers noticed the wooden guillotine in the bed of the dark-colored truck just after 3 p.m. According to police, the vehicle was illegally parked along the 100 block of East Capitol Street by the Supreme Court, steps away from the U.S. Capitol building.
USCP said the guillotine was seized and investigators are reviewing Le's background to determine why he came to the Capitol after driving to Washington, D.C., from California.
Social media posts linked to an Instagram account belonging to a man named Philan Le appeared to place him outside the Federal Bureau of Investigation Headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
"Outside the FBI building, just eating some cheese pizza," the man says in a Story post while sitting by the guillotine in the back of the pickup. The clip also includes the text "Guillotine adventures" and "Capitol Hill next."
"What worries me more is the people above those people ... we do not know who they are," he adds.
The man later says he spent the last few months "working on a solution," explaining that he built the guillotine and planned to drive it from San Diego to Washington, D.C.
"The guillotine is strictly for self-defense purposes," he says. "I'd like to make things very clear: I harbor no ill will or intentions of violence towards anyone."
"I don’t think he’d hurt anyone," his brother added.