A man from California was arrested on Tuesday after authorities discovered a guillotine in the back of his pickup truck near the US Capitol and the Supreme Court.
Philan-Tam-Duy Le, a 35-year-old from Julian, California, had traveled all the way to Washington, DC, when Capitol Police noticed his truck parked illegally along the 100 block of East Capitol Street just after 3 p.m. They were certainly taken aback by what they found in the truck bed.
The guillotine was clearly visible, as reported by US Capitol Police.
Le was taken into custody for carrying a dangerous weapon and he received a citation for parking improperly next to the Supreme Court grounds.
Images from police show that the guillotine was fully assembled and upright in the truck bed, which raises quite a few questions.
Investigators are now looking into Le’s background, trying to understand why he drove all the way to the nation’s capital with such a device in his vehicle.
This particular guillotine, an execution device meant for beheading, has historical roots in late-18th-century France and became notorious during the Reign of Terror associated with the French Revolution.
While owning a guillotine is typically legal on private property, bringing one into restricted governmental areas is a different story.
Security regulations around the Capitol complex and the Supreme Court are quite strict, making it illegal to transport threatening items into those zones.
As the investigation continues, officials are working to discover Le’s intentions for crossing the country with this large and alarming piece of machinery.
