Police arrest an armed man outside Justice Kavanaugh’s house

An armed man arrested near Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home in Maryland was charged with “attempts to kidnap or murder, or threatens to assault, kidnap or murder” the justice, according to a charging document in the case.

The man, identified in the documents as Nicholas John Roske, called Montgomery County Emergency Communications Center and told the call taker “he was having suicidal thoughts and had a firearm in his suitcase,” the document said. He also told the call taker “he came from California to kill a specific United States Supreme Court justice.”

Officers from the Montgomery County Police Department who were dispatched to the scene encountered Roske while he was still on the call. He was taken into custody without incident.

Montgomery County police arrested the armed man outside Kavanaugh’s house at 1:50 a.m., the U.S. Supreme Court said Wednesday.

“The man was armed and made threats against Justice Kavanaugh,” the court said in a statement. “He was transported to Montgomery County Police 2^nd District.”

The Washington Post first reported the arrest Wednesday, noting that the California man was carrying at least one weapon outside Kavanaugh’s home in suburban Maryland. The man was arrested on a nearby street and did not make it to the justice’s property, the newspaper said, citing anonymous sources.

Protests outside the homes of the justices have increased since the leak of Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion on abortion, prompting U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to increase security outside their homes.

The Supreme Court statement did not note the reason the man made threats against the justice, but the Post report cited two sources saying he was angry about the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade.

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