Arkansas Man Attempts to Blow up His Car at the Pentagon

An Arkansas man has been arrested after threatening to blow up his vehicle right outside the Pentagon. The suspect was arrested following a brief chase.

Motives Behind the Attempted Attack Remain Unknown

19-year-old Matthew Dmitri Richardson was approached Monday morning by a Pentagon police officer, noticing Richardson standing by a car with a lighter and a rag stuffed in the car’s gas tank, near the Pentagon’s north parking lot. 

Richardson then declared he’s going to “blow this vehicle up,” before fleeing the scene after an officer tried to arrest him, crossing highways and a fence, hopping right into Arlington National Cemetery, where he was eventually found and arrested after Arlington police and a plethora of police officers, including K9 units were deployed. 

The charges Richardson faces are “maliciously attempting to damage and destroy by means of fire a vehicle used in and affecting interstate and foreign commerce” and could land him anywhere between five and twenty years in prison. 

According to authorities, Richardson was also arrested last week in Virginia for assault on a law enforcement officer. However, the man’s motifs behind the attempt to cause an explosion at the Pentagon remains a mystery; All he said was that he was just “trying to blow himself up.” 

Richardson has no ties or connection to the active duty service member who owns the vehicle.