Name: Man With Molotov Cocktail, Fireworks Arrested in Front of Washington Church
Uploaded: 2025-10-09T12:12:04.000Z
Description: The entrance to the Cathedral was closed while police conducted their investigation, and they said at the time there was no threat to public safety.

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A man was arrested on Sunday for having a Molotov cocktail outside a Washington, D.C., church.

D.C. Metro Police reported Sunday that the man was seen loitering outside St. Matthew's Cathedral in Northwest D.C. The church was celebrating its annual "Red Mass" before the opening of the Supreme Court's 2025–26 term.

According to a <a href="https://mpdc.dc.gov/release/mpd-statement-arrest-outside-st-matthew%E2%80%99s-cathedral">press release</a> from the department, MPD officers were working a security detail for the service on Sunday morning at around 6 a.m. when the officers approached the man after he had set up a tent on the steps of the church. Officers determined that the man had already been banned from the church grounds. After asking him to leave, the man refused, and officers arrested and removed him.

While conducting a search of the suspect's tent, police found vials of unknown liquid and what appeared to be fireworks. The department's Explosive Ordinance Disposal team and Arson Task Force later responded to the scene to conduct another search. The entrance to the Cathedral was closed while police conducted their investigation, and they said at the time there was no threat to public safety. MPD said that it is coordinating the investigations with members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Washington, D.C. field office of the FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The suspect was identified as Louis Geri, 41, a native of Vineland, New Jersey. He is being held on charges of Unlawful Entry, Threats to Kidnap or Injure a Person, and Possession of a Molotov Cocktail.

St. Matthew's celebrated its 73rd annual "Red Mass" on Sunday. A "Red Mass" is a Catholic liturgy offered for members of the legal profession. The Cathedral offers its Mass annually on the Sunday before the first Monday in October, which marks the beginning of the Supreme Court's fall term.

"The annual Mass invokes God’s guidance and blessing on justices, judges, diplomats, attorneys, and government officials," the Archdiocese of Washington says on its <a href="https://adw.org/news/opening-of-supreme-court-term-to-be-marked-with-red-mass-on-october-5-2/">website</a>. The John Carroll Society of the Archdiocese of Washington, which sponsors the Mass, notes that frequent attendees include presidents and cabinet officials, the chief justice and associate justices of the Supreme Court, federal and local judges and litigators, members of Congress, diplomats, practicing lawyers, deans and professors of law schools, and law students.

The Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, located on Rhode Island Avenue in the Northwest neighborhood of the Nation's capital, is the mother church of the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. It is named after Matthew the Apostle of Jesus, recognized as the patron saint of civil servants.

The incident comes just one week after a man rammed into a Mormon Church in <a href="https://www.ntd.com/michigan-church-shooting-what-we-know-so-far_1093435.html">Grand Blanc, Michigan</a>, then opened fire on worshippers and set a fire inside the Church. Four people were killed and eight were injured in the attack.

In August, a gunman opened fire on a Catholic school in <a href="https://www.ntd.com/1-child-in-critical-condition-following-shooting-at-annunciation-church_1087641.html">Minneapolis</a>, killing two schoolchildren and injuring at least 16 more who were attending a Mass, before shooting himself.

Also last week, the individual who <a href="https://www.ntd.com/would-be-justice-kavanaugh-assassin-gets-8-year-prison-term_1094504.html">attempted to assassinate</a> Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2022 was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

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Man With Molotov Cocktail, Fireworks Arrested in Front of Washington Church

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