A man arrested outside Saint Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington during a Catholic Mass on Oct. 5 had more than 200 handmade explosives—including Molotov cocktails and bottle rockets—in his possession and threatened to ignite them, according to court documents filed on Oct. 6.
Louis Geri, 41, was arrested outside the cathedral during the Washington archdiocese’s annual Red Mass—a Catholic Mass offered for members of the legal profession. Supreme Court justices typically attend the Mass.
Geri, of Vineland, New Jersey, was approached by law enforcement while inside a green tent set up on the steps leading into the cathedral. Police determined that he had been previously barred from the church’s premises and asked Geri to move his tent. He allegedly refused and said, “You might want to stay back and call the federales, I have explosives/bombs.”
Officers found “multiple suspicious items” following Geri’s arrest, including vials of liquid and possible fireworks. Authorities charged him with eight counts: unlawful entry, threats to kidnap or injure a person, possession of a Molotov cocktail, two counts of assault on a police officer, possession of a destructive device, manufacture or possession of a weapon of mass destruction, and resisting arrest.
The investigation is ongoing, with coordination from the Joint Terrorism Task Force, the FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
When an officer from the bomb squad approached Geri, court records state that he “sounded agitated” and reiterated that he had explosives and was aware of the Red Mass that was about to begin. Geri then allegedly threatened to set off bombs in the street.
“Do you want me to throw one out? I‘ll test one out in the street. I have a hundred plus of them. If you just step back, I’ll throw one in the street, no one will get hurt; there will be a hole in the street ... if you just step back, I'll take out that tree,” Geri allegedly told officers.
When law enforcement told Geri that he would be removed against his will, he said, “Several of your people are gonna to die from one of these,” according to court records.
Officers, attempting to de-escalate the situation, agreed to look at Geri’s writings and opened the tent. They described seeing Geri with a butane lighter and an “unknown white cap-shaped object” clenched in his right hand. The suspect then handed several sheets of paper with writing on them, which were later determined to be nine pages torn out of his notebook, police stated.
When authorities tried to unzip the rest of the tent, Geri allegedly became agitated and shifted the unknown white object to his other hand and said, “Alright, if you want to do it, we'll do it right now,” while reaching into a dark bag. Police tried to draw Geri’s attention to paperwork titled, “Written Negotiations for the Avoidance of Destruction of Property via Detonation of Explosives.” He confirmed that he had written it and that he had a background in explosives, according to police.
Geri then allegedly reached into the dark bag and began retrieving multiple vials with white caps and an “unknown yellow liquid” inside, before shifting his thumb over a butane lighter to begin ignition, saying, “You better have these people step away or there’s going to be deaths, I’m telling you now!”
Authorities determined that Geri had set up a tent on the steps of the church on Sept. 26. When he refused to move, the church and the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department barred him from the cathedral.
Geri was finally apprehended on Oct. 5 after officers say he walked over to the trees at the corner of the church and began urinating. Officers put Geri in handcuffs after he attempted to resist and pull away, according to court documents.
Authorities then began searching the suspect’s possessions, finding a large cache of more than 200 handmade destructive devices and paperwork that revealed “his significant animosity” toward the Catholic Church, members of the Jewish faith, members of the Supreme Court, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and ICE facilities, according to court documents.
After the bomb squad searched Geri’s tent, the team noted a strong smell of acetone emitting from some of the vials, and some of the liquid was determined to be nitromethane. Authorities said the liquid appeared to be multiple chemicals mixed together, none in their original containers.
A bomb squad technician said the devices appeared to be fully functional and a combination of parts designed or intended to be converted into a destructive device. Geri described his contraptions as “grenades and explosives containing Nitro Methane with a rubber band securing a fuse to be used for detonation,” according to court documents.
Nitromethane is an explosive chemical used in improvised explosive devices, including one used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings.
Geri also allegedly said he was planning to use his modified bottle rocket fireworks with aluminum foil heads attached and treated in a thermite solution to allow for remote detonation of his handmade explosive devices.
Geri faces eight charges in connection with his arrest on Oct. 5. He was arraigned in court the following day on two charges connected to the incident on Sept. 26—when his tent was first found on the church steps and he was barred from the property—possession of a destructive device and false report of a weapon of mass destruction. A judge ordered Geri to be held without bond.
A preliminary hearing in Geri’s case is scheduled for Oct. 9.
An attorney representing Geri did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
