First appearance on Fox: A 44-year-old Washington, D.C., man accused of trying to smuggle a machete and three more knives into the Capitol Visitor Center was released from custody Wednesday.
Mel J. Horn is accused of attempting to pass through a magnetometer and X-ray security screen after placing two pocket knives and a box cutter knife in a plastic tray.
Authorities then searched his bag and found a machete, according to the criminal complaint. He received conditional pretrial release after a hearing in D.C. Superior Court last week, according to police and court records. Details were not immediately available.
”[Horne] “He was visiting the Capitol to attend the state funeral of former President Carter, and was in possession of a knife and machete used for landscaping work,” police alleged in an affidavit.
Jimmy Carter memorial: Suspect identified in Capitol security breach during Trump visit
U.S. Capitol Police stopped a man at a security checkpoint as he tried to enter the Capitol after allegedly carrying a machete and three knives in his bag. (U.S. Capitol Police)
The officers pointed out that there was more than six inches of snow on the ground and that the city had declared a snow emergency, and asked when the last time he had done landscaping work.
”[Horne] …He advised that he was not coming from or on his way to a landscaping job,” the affidavit continued.[Horne] He said he is homeless and carries these items with him wherever he travels. ”
President-elect Donald Trump, who was attending the Carter Memorial on the day Horne allegedly tried to smuggle the weapon, will be inaugurated for a second term on January 20.
Horn lived with her parents until 2022, when they asked the court to evict her, according to court documents in an unrelated civil case. After he agreed to retire, the proposal was rejected without prejudice, with the condition that he could return to tend the bonsai in his garden.
“My son lives in our home (rent free), but over the past year he has started using drugs to get high and change his mind,” his mother, Brenda Horne, said in the civil complaint. argued in the letter. “Now that he has become violent, we are afraid and want him removed from the house.”
Read the police statement
Later in the document, she identified “PCP” as the drug she believed he was using and said he became difficult to deal with when she called a community resource officer.
“It took [four] “Community resources visited on Friday and finally removed him due to violence, but he remains hospitalized and attempting to escape,” she wrote.
She asked the judge to order him removed from the property and force him to undergo mental health treatment.
According to court documents, the case was ultimately dismissed without prejudice, and Horne was ordered to stay away from her parents' home for a year with the condition that she would only be allowed to return off-site to tend to her bonsai. Agreed.
Horne's mother could not be reached for comment.
Please read the civil law complaint
Capitol Police arrest man who tried to set fire to Trump's car during President Trump's visit to D.C. with Republican senators
U.S. Capitol Police arrested Horn last week after he allegedly tried to enter the Capitol Visitor Center in front of an X-ray machine with a large machete and three folding knives.
It happened just hours before President Trump visited to pay his respects to former President Jimmy Carter, who was publicly laid to rest in the Capitol Rotunda.
“Our officers know they can't let their guard down for even a second,” U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Munger said after the arrest. “This constant focus and attention to detail helps keep this campus safe.”
Mr. Carter passed away on December 29th at the age of 100.
The U.S. Capitol is fenced off in preparation for January 6, 2025. (Fox News Digital)
The incident report for the case identifies Horn as a prior felon, but his criminal record was not immediately clear. He was previously incarcerated in 2019, but the Department of Corrections told FOX News Digital it was not authorized to release records related to that case.
He is currently charged with multiple counts of possession of a dangerous weapon.
Two officers spotted Horne using a security screen and stopped him, according to the documents. As probable cause, they searched him further and are said to have found other knives.
Police arrested a man who tried to bring a machete and three knives into the Capitol just hours before Trump's arrival.
A Scout troop salutes in front of former President Jimmy Carter's flag-draped casket in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on January 8, 2025. (Samuel Corum/AFP via Getty Images)
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Hours later, Capitol Police arrested Adrian J. Hinton, 35, of Virginia, on suspicion of attempting to set a car on fire outside the Grant Memorial.
Authorities said the incidents are not believed to be related.
Neither arrest caused the Carter memorial to be disrupted.
