A car possibly containing a bomb was found in the bushes near a Pentagon parking lot this morning; “police found a suspicious person near Arlington National Cemetery and the person led them” to the suspicious vehicle, according to the AP. One person this suspicious cemetery person presumably? was apprehended, while, according to NBC News, “[o]ne or two other suspects who ‘fled the scene’ on foot were being hunted by police.” CBS News, meanwhile, reports that the detained person is “suspected of planting suspicious devices around the Pentagon, Arlington National Cemetery and the Iwo Jima Memorial.” Very suspicious all around.
NBC: ‘Suspicious device’ found in car near Pentagon [MSNBC]
1 person in custody in investigation at Pentagon [AP]
Person held amid Pentagon security scare [CBS News]
Update: According to ABC News, the man, 22-year-old Yonathan Melaku of Alexandria, Virginia, had a backpack that “contained what was believed to be ammonium nitrate and spent ammunition for an automatic weapon.” He also had a notebook for a financial class that included a page with some very un-financial words, such as “al qaeda,” “Taliban rules,” “mujahidin” and “defeated coalition forces.” Meanwhile, the “suspicious items” in the car have been “disrupted” and “rendered safe.”
Update II: A 22-year-old Yonathan Melaku of Alexandria was arrested three weeks ago for a “rash of vehicle tamperings.”
Police have arrested 22-year-old Yonathan Melaku, of Alexandria, in the rash of vehicle tamperings in the 500 block of Glade Fern Terrace in Leesburg….
Twenty-seven cars in Leesburg were damaged early Thursday morning, police report. Police received a call around 3:30 a.m. of someone hearing car windows being smashed in the 500 block of Glade Fern Terrace.
Update III: From what we can tell of what appears to be Melaku’s Facebook profile … he likes music and Pepsi.
Update IV: Fox News is reporting that Melaku is in the Marine Corps Reserves and specializes as a vehicle driver.
