COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Investigators say an 18-year-old man from Georgia was dressed in tactical gear and carrying a loaded shotgun as he raced toward the U.S. Capitol.
Officers quickly stopped Carter Camacho, and he surrendered.
“Who knows what could’ve happened if we didn’t have officers standing here standing guard like they do every single day,” said a U.S. Capitol police spokesperson.
Camacho told Capitol police “he was just there to talk to members of Congress,” according to a criminal complaint.
Camacho lives in unincorporated Cobb County. No one answered the door when Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell showed up Wednesday.
“You think of all the people in the country that could potentially be disgruntled in this political climate, kind of weird to feel like that could (be) somebody just down the street from you,” said a neighbor who did not want to be identified.
The neighbor’s wife saw police outside Camacho’s home.
A Homeland Security special taskforce agent and Cobb police officers were at the home for hours not long after Camacho was arrested.
Investigators say he parked a white Mercedes SUV at Maryland Avenue before he ran toward the Capitol on Tuesday afternoon.
Officers say they recovered a Mossberg model 88 12-gauge shotgun loaded with seven rounds, plus one chambered. The safety was off.
Another 17 rounds of ammunition were attached to a carrier on the stock of the shotgun.
Congress was not in session and remains in recess. Prior to Tuesday, police were called to Camacho’s home last summer.
Channel 2 is working to determine why they were there and see if he was enrolled in school.
Neighbors said they don’t know anything about Camacho or his family. He doesn’t appear to have a criminal background in Cobb.
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