A man with an active Jan. 6-related warrant was arrested on Thursday somewhere near the Washington, D.C. home of former President Barack Obama, and when authorities spotted him and gave chase he evidently ran in the direction of Obama’s home.
And that was more than enough information to tie it all up into a pretty little package suggesting the Obamas may have been targeted.
The man, Taylor Taranto, 37, was reportedly living in his van, with CBS News reporting that the vehicle “contained more than one weapon and materials to make some kind of explosive device akin to a Molotov cocktail, but it had not been assembled.” A Molotov cocktail requires three materials, an empty bottle, a rag, and a flammable substance.
“Secret Service spotted him within blocks of the Obama’s home, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the matter. Taranto fled, and Secret Service chased him. He was running toward the Obama home, but was apprehended before reaching it,” CBS News reported.
The network cited a U.S. official to report, “He wasn’t in Obama’s neighborhood by mistake.”
NBC News cut to the chase, so to speak, citing law enforcement to report: “A conspiracy-minded Donald Trump supporter who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was arrested Thursday near the home of former President Barack Obama.”
Law & Crime ran with this titillating headline: “Jan. 6 ‘fugitive from justice’ allegedly arrested while running toward the DC home of Michelle and Barack Obama.”
Interestingly, CNN reported that Taranto was “arrested Thursday in former President Barack Obama’s Washington, DC, neighborhood,” but added that law enforcement said there was currently no indication of a direct threat to the Obamas.
Taranto has an open warrant related to Jan. 6. but has reportedly been living in the DC area for a couple of months despite what amounted to the greatest dragnet in FBI history, a senior law enforcement official told CBS News. He was said to be camping out in his van near the DC jail where many of the Jan. 6 defendants are being held and was even live-streaming while in the D.C. area.
The suspect is named in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Erin Smith, the widow of Jeffrey Smith, an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, who killed himself with his service weapon nine days after the attack on the Capitol, according to Law & Crime.
“Co-Defendant Taranto handed a cane or crowbar (or similar object) to [David] Kaufman. Kaufman, in turn, violently swung the cane and struck Officer Smith in the face/head,” the lawsuit alleges.
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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