Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers speaks at a marketing campaign cease in October 2022, in Milwaukee. A person illegally introduced a handgun into the Wisconsin Capitol on Wednesday demanding to see the governor then returned later with an assault rifle after posting bail.

Morry Gash/AP

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Morry Gash/AP

Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers speaks at a marketing campaign cease in October 2022, in Milwaukee. A person illegally introduced a handgun into the Wisconsin Capitol on Wednesday demanding to see the governor then returned later with an assault rifle after posting bail.

Morry Gash/AP

MADISON, Wis. — A person illegally introduced a loaded handgun into the Wisconsin Capitol, demanding to see Gov. Tony Evers, and returned at night time with an assault rifle after posting bail, police stated Thursday.

The man, who was shirtless and had a holstered handgun, approached the governor’s workplace on the primary flooring of the Capitol round 2 p.m. Wednesday, state Department of Administration spokesperson Tatyana Warrick stated. The 43-year-old man stated “he would not leave until he saw Governor Evers” so he may speak about “domestic abuse towards men,” Capitol police stated in a bulletin despatched to lawmakers and their staffs.

Evers was not within the constructing on the time, Warrick stated.

A Capitol police officer sits at a desk exterior of a set of rooms that features the governor’s workplace, convention room and workplaces for the lawyer normal.

The man was taken into custody for brazenly carrying a firearm within the Capitol, which is in opposition to the legislation, Warrick stated. Weapons may be introduced into the Capitol if they’re hid and the individual has a sound allow. The man arrested didn’t have a hid carry allow, Warrick stated.

The man posted cellphone video of his arrest on his Facebook web page, which considered one of his Facebook buddies downloaded and supplied to The Associated Press. In the footage, the person tells police as they converse to him exterior of the governor’s workplace that he’s armed “to defend myself” from individuals who he says police will not shield him from.

“I am not a threat,” the person tells police. His canine is with him.

When informed by officers that it is unlawful for him to brazenly carry a firearm within the Capitol, the person says, “I will admit that I broke that law.”

Warrick stated she was not conscious of the video and couldn’t touch upon it.

The man was booked into the Dane County Jail however later posted bail.

He returned to the surface of the Capitol shortly earlier than 9 p.m., three hours after the constructing closed, with a loaded assault-style rifle and a collapsible police baton in his backpack, Warrick stated. He once more demanded to see the governor and was taken into custody.

The man stated “he did not own a vehicle and it is likely he has access to a large amount of weapons and is comfortable using them,” police stated within the bulletin despatched to Capitol employees.

Capitol police named the suspect, however courtroom data present that no expenses had been filed as of late Thursday afternoon. The AP usually doesn’t title suspects till they’re charged and efforts are made to get feedback from them, their lawyer or different consultant.

Madison police reported Thursday that the person was taken into protecting custody and brought to the hospital. He couldn’t be reached by the AP, and a spokesperson for the police division didn’t return an e mail searching for further particulars.

A spokesman for the state public defender’s workplace couldn’t disclose on Thursday whether or not a public defender had been assigned to the alleged gunman, and an lawyer who represented him in a earlier case didn’t instantly return voicemails asking whether or not they had been representing him. Members of the person’s household and prior employers additionally didn’t instantly reply to voicemails.

In a podcast posted Tuesday, a person who recognized himself with the identical title and birthdate because the alleged gunman stated he was in Madison and, in speech crammed with profanity, stated he would burn down the system “with love” as a result of it’s corrupt. The man complained about how he had been handled by the courts and spoke about illegally promoting weapons, working in gun shops with explosives and machine weapons, making an attempt suicide and coping with post-traumatic stress dysfunction. He additionally stated he needed to maintain dwelling.

“Capitol Police took control of the situation and so it’s over,” Evers informed reporters Thursday.

He declined to touch upon what safety modifications could also be enacted for him or the Capitol constructing.

“I never, ever talk about what my security detail does or what they’re planning on doing,” Evers stated. “But anytime something like this happens, obviously they reevaluate.”

The incident is simply the newest in a sequence of violent threats against public officials.

Evers, a Democrat, was on a success listing of a gunman suspected of fatally taking pictures a retired county choose at his Wisconsin house in 2022. Others on that listing included Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Whitmer was the goal of a kidnapping plot in 2020.

Warrick stated no fast modifications to safety within the Capitol or for the governor had been deliberate. The public has free entry to the Capitol each day from 8 a.m. to six p.m. There are not any metallic detectors.