Man Arrested for Plot to Kill Kavanaugh Identified, Told Police He Was ‘Upset’ About Justice’s Views on Abortion and Guns
The man arrested for allegedly threatening to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh has been identified as 26-year-old Nicholas John Roske of Simi Valley, California, Fox News reported on Wednesday.
Roske was arrested around 1:50 am on a street near the Kavanaugh home after he called 911 and made violent threats against the justice, reportedly furious over recent mass shootings and a leaked draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade.
Since the opinion was leaked, pro-choice protesters have demonstrated outside the homes of several conservative justices, including Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Chief Justice John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, and Samuel Alito, the author of the draft opinion.
When he was arrested, Roske reportedly had a backpack with him. Early news reports described him as being armed with a gun and a knife, along with burglary tools. Fox News updated this list with a more detailed inventory of Roske’s backpack, reporting that the gun was a Glock 17 along with two magazines and extra ammunition, and the backpack also contained a tactical knife, pepper spray, zip ties, hammer, screwdriver, nail punch, crowbar, pistol light, and duct tape.
Liberal group Ruth Sent Us was sharply criticized for publicizing conservative justices’ home addresses in an interactive Google Maps post, and Google took down their post for violating its terms of service. Fox News mentioned in its report that Roske claimed to have found Kavanaugh’s home address “on the internet,” but did not identify on what specific site he found the information.
“Roske stated that he began thinking about how to give his life a purpose and decided he would kill the Supreme Court Justice after finding the Justice’s Montgomery County address on the internet,” the criminal complaint against Roske stated.
After the news of Roske’s arrest, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) increased his calls for the passage of a bill that would provide police protection for the families of Supreme Court Justices, and slammed Democrats for “unhinged, reckless, apocalyptic rhetoric” he blamed for inflaming protesters.
UPDATE 2:40 pm: Additional details about Roske’s arrest can be found in the federal affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Ian Montijo. Montijo wrote that Roske got out of a taxicab at approximately 1:05 am the morning of June 8 and was observed by two U.S. Marshals to be dressed in all black and carrying a backpack and suitcase. The Marshals say that Roske saw them and turned and walked down the street.
“Shortly thereafter,” the affidavit continued, Montgomery County emergency dispatchers got a call from a man identifying himself as Roske, saying he was “having suicidal thoughts and had a firearm in his suitcase,” and that he had traveled from California “to kill a specific United States Supreme Court Justice.” Local police responded to the call and encountered Roske while he was still on the phone with the dispatcher.
Roske “was taken into custody without incident” and police seized his backpack and suitcase. “An inventory search of the seized suitcase and backpack revealed a black tactical chest rig and tactical knife, a Glock 17 pistol with two magazines and ammunition, pepper spray, zip ties, a hammer, screwdriver, nail punch, crow bar, pistol light, duct tape, hiking boots with padding on the outside of the soles, and other items.”
The affidavit also confirms reports that Roske had said the reason for his murder plot was that he was “upset” about the leaked opinion and gun control issues. After he was transported to the police precinct and read his constitutional rights, Roske agreed to speak to detectives and signed a waiver.
Roske told the detective “he believed the Justice that he intended to kill would side with Second Amendment decisions that would loosen gun control laws” and had been “began thinking about how to give his life a purpose and decided that he would kill the Supreme Court Justice after finding the Justice’s Montgomery County address on the Internet.”
Roske’s plan was to break into the Kavanaugh home and kill the Justice and then himself, the affidavit stated, with Roske repeating that admission in a second interview with Montijo.
NEW: Here’s the federal affidavit against the man accused of trying to kill Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Nicholas Roske allegedly flew from CA to DC. He took a taxi to Kavanaugh’s Chevy Chase, Md. home.
Roske was found with a pistol, pepper spray, hammer, screwdriver, crow bar, etc pic.twitter.com/XJd5ZMWwrn
— Kevin Lewis (@KevinLewis7News) June 8, 2022
