A Florida man pleaded guilty Friday in an attempt to detonate explosives on an outer wall of the Chinese Embassy in Northwest in Sept. 2023.
Security video from a store in Charlottesville, Virginia shows a man, later identified as Christopher Rodriguez , exiting on Sept. 24, 2023. Days later officials said he would attempt to detonate explosives on a rear wall of the Chinese Embassy in Northwest, D.
C. A Florida man pleaded guilty Friday in an attempt to detonate explosives on an outer wall of the Chinese Embassy in Northwest in Sept. 2023, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Armed with a rifle and backpack with 15 pounds of explosives, federal officials said Panama City-based attorney Christopher Rodriguez, 45, reportedly traveled from his home to the D.C. area between Sept. 23 and 25 to carry out the attack, according to court documents. Officials said Rodriguez tried to create an explosion by shooting at the backpack, but missed his target and later left the scene.Rodriguez, who's remained in custody after his arrest in Louisiana on Nov. 4, 2023, told a D.C. judge that he pleaded guilty to three of the four federal charges against him. Records showed Rodriguez drove from his home to Arlington between Sept. 23 and 24, stopping in Harrisonburg and Charlottesville, Virginia to buy the black backpack, gloves, and a burner cell phone. When he arrived in Arlington on Sept. 24, officials said Rodriguez parked his car, ordered a taxi on 23rd South Street, and asked to be dropped off a few blocks away from the Chinese Embassy. Between midnight and 3 a.m. on Sept. 25, 2023, court documents showed that Rodriguez carried several bags with him, one of which was a black backpack with a charcoal briquet bag filled with what U.S. Secret Service officials explosive "gray granular materials". Another bag appeared to carry a rifle and a third bag appeared to be a satchel. Officials said Rodriguez passed by the University of D.C., where he was briefly caught on camera, and placed the backpack several feet away from an outer wall of the Chinese Embassy on the Van Ness Street side. Camera video showed Rodriguez leaving the scene at around 2:30 a.m. and U.S. Secret Service agents later found the backpack along with shell casings and bullet fragments on the ground behind where the backpack was placed. During the investigation, officials learned Rodriguez was connected to several other explosives-related incidents across the country. In June 2021, California Highway Patrol arrested Rodriguez after finding his license plate did not match the vehicle he was driving. Inside the vehicle, officials said they found three firearms, and several bags and jars of Tannerite, an explosive found inside the bookbag at the Chinese embassy, officials said. In Nov. 2022, police said Rodriguez rented a car and drove to San Antonio, Texas, where he blew up a satirical sculpture of communist leaders Mao Zedong and Vladimir Lenin. Officials said Rodriguez has also pleaded guilty to this incident.
Chinese Embassy Explosives Guilty Florida D.C. Bombing Attempt Federal Charges
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