Man carrying weapons and protest manifesto against Gaza war tried to enter U.S. Capitol on Election Day

A Michigan man carrying a flare gun, a torch lighter, two bottles of fuel and a manifesto angry with the government’s response to the Israel-Hamas war was arrested at the United States Capitol Visitor Center on Election Day, police said.

The man, 28-year-old Austin M. Olson of the Detroit suburb of Westland, was charged with possession of a prohibited weapon, unlawful activities, and disorderly conduct. In a release, U.S. Capitol Police noted he “also smelled like he doused part of his clothing with fuel.”

Olson carried a manifesto and a letter for Congress, police said, adding, “The letter was focused on the man’s opinions on the war in the Middle East.” Officials told the New York Times that the letter “appeared to claim that he was protesting the war in Gaza and the United States’ relationship with Israel.” 

The evidence suggested that Olson might have been planning to self-immolate, a form of protest that at least three other people have carried out in the U.S. in connection with the war in Gaza. 

In February a U.S. airman died after setting himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., while shouting “Free Palestine.” The man, Aaron Bushnell, had posted a video online declaring he “will no longer be complicit in genocide” and became a folk hero among some pro-Palestinian activists.

Bushnell’s death came nearly three months after a still-unknown protester engaged in a similar act at the Israeli consulate in Atlanta, where she suffered critical injuries. And a man was severely injured after lighting himself on fire outside the Israeli consulate in Boston in September. 

In the latest incident, the Times reported that a man who appeared to be Olson had an extensive record of political videos posted to YouTube and the far-right website Rumble, the last one of which he expressed his desire to be a martyr: “If my persecution and death means the truth lives, I’ll pick up my cross.” 

On the social network Threads, the Anti-Defamation League gave a further breakdown of Olson’s views on Jews and Israel. 

“He expresses a variety of antisemitic, anti-Israel & anti-government views, alleging that elected leaders serve the interests of Israel over the American people,” the ADL wrote, citing a quote from Olson: “The problem is Israel; the problem is you. You have been bought and we have been sold into slavery and called it capitalism. Israel controls our media, our corporations, they control you and they own us.”

The ADL’s Center on Extremism also noted that Olson’s account on the social network X “expressed a range of far-right tropes and antisemitic views, including endorsing the Great Replacement Theory and the antisemitic myth of deicide.”

Police did not release additional details about the manifesto’s contents. Olson had driven all night from Michigan to Washington, D.C., the night before. During a press conference immediately after the arrest, chief J. Thomas Manger told reporters that the suspect’s interest “may have” been the war, but added there was “no indication right now that it had anything to do with the election.”