Report: New Jersey man arrested outside St. Matthew’s Cathedral was targeting Catholics, SCOTUS justices

The New Jersey man arrested Oct. 5 on the steps of St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, D.C., had hundreds of explosives and a manifesto suggesting he was targeting Catholics and Supreme Court Justices, according to a police affidavit reported by multiple outlets. 

Officers with the Metropolitan Police Department said they encountered 41-year-old Louis Geri around 6 a.m. on the cathedral steps, where he was attempting to pitch a tent, CatholicVote reported Oct. 5. Geri had previously been banned from the property.

When police asked him to leave as they secured the area before the city’s annual Red Mass, Geri allegedly responded, “You might want to stay back and call the federales. I have explosives/bombs,” according to court documents  FOX News released Oct. 8. He later allegedly added, “I have a hundred plus of them.” 

The affidavit states that police then told Geri he may be forcibly removed from the site, to which he replied: “Several of your people are gonna die from one of these.”

As officers tried to de-escalate the situation, one agreed to read something Geri had written, according to the affidavit. Holding a butane lighter, Geri allegedly handed officers nine handwritten pages titled, “Written Negotiations for the Avoidance of Destruction of Property via Detonation of Explosives.”

The manifesto “revealed his significant animosity toward the Catholic church, members of the Jewish faith, members of SCOTUS and ICE/ICE facilities,” police wrote, according to The Daily Wire.