Police this week arrested an Army veteran from Maryland on suspicion of threatening a mass shooting at the U.S Capitol, according to a federal affidavit and criminal complaint.
Michael Bogoslavski, 33, allegedly texted his wife, a Senate staffer who works at the Capitol Building, and threatened to shoot a Capitol Police officer who knew her, according to an affidavit filed at a federal court in Maryland.
“When I come divorce won’t help. Cause I’m making the news today,” he texted, according to the documents, when his wife told him she’d divorce him if he came to her office.
“Gun in each hand.”
The affidavit says Bogolavski texted a string of threatening messages to his wife, walking through his process of getting his rifle and ammo, and said that he’d shoot anyone in his way.
While a Capitol Police officer took her statement, Bogoslavski called her phone to issue more threats. She turned on the phone’s speaker and the officer heard him say that he was “going to come up there and shoot everyone in my…way. I’m going to die suicide by cop,” according to the documents.
Police arrested Bogoslavski at his home on Monday and he told officers that he’s suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and could not adjust back to life after serving in the Army. After obtaining a search warrant for his home, officers found two loaded handguns, along with more ammunition, those documents say.
“Local and federal law enforcement agencies responded to the threat quickly and effectively,” Rod J. Rosenstein, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, said in a statement. “Their efforts in this case may have prevented a tragic outcome.”
The arrest took place Monday. On Tuesday, the Justice Department filed a criminal complaint, which was unsealed a day later.
Bogoslavski faces up to five years in prison if found guilty of sending a message threatening injury, according to a press release. The release also says that he served in the Army for nine years and spent two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.
The news comes less than a month after law enforcement foiled a plot by an Ohio man inspired by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria to release pipe bombs in the Capitol building and shoot people in the area.
ABC affiliate WJLA first reported the arrest.
This story was updated at 1:38 p.m.