Man charged with plotting to kill Kavanaugh was convinced by sister to call 911, police say
By David Shortell, CNN
The man charged last week with the attempted murder of Justice Brett Kavanaugh was convinced to call 911 on himself by his sister as he stood nearby the judge’s Maryland home, law enforcement said Tuesday.
In a statement, Marcus Jones, the chief of police in Montgomery County, Maryland, where Kavanaugh lives, said that after noticing US Marshals posted outside the judge’s home, Nicholas Roske “turned around to contemplate his next move. This is when he texted his sister and told her of his intentions and she convinced him to call 911, which he did.”
CNN has reached out to his attorney for comment.
The Washington Post earlier reported the texts between Roske and his sister.
Roske was arrested last week after telling a 911 operator that he had a gun on him and was having suicidal thoughts. He has been formally indicted on one count of attempting to assassinate a Justice of the United States, according to a court filing released Wednesday.
According to an FBI affidavit, Roske told authorities that he had traveled from California to kill “a specific United States Supreme Court Justice” and that he was upset about the leak of the Supreme Court opinion related to abortion rights, an upcoming gun control case, and the school shooting last month in Uvalde, Texas.
Authorities said last week that the Marshals saw Roske emerge from a taxi outside the judge’s home at 1:05 a.m. “dressed in black clothing and carrying a backpack and a suitcase.” Montgomery County police have said that they responded to a call for service at 1:42 a.m.
“I commend the excellent work of the police dispatcher and call taker, with our Emergency Communications Center, as well as the courageous acts of our officers potentially going into a dangerous and unstable situation to arrest this suspect,” Jones said in the statement.
The US Attorney’s Office in Maryland said in a news release following the indictment that it includes “a forfeiture allegation seeking the forfeiture of a firearm, two magazines loaded with 10 rounds each of 9mm ammunition; 17 rounds of ammunition contained in a plastic bag, a black speed loader, and additional items allegedly intended to be used in the commission of the crime.”
Roske has been in jail since his arrest and is due back in court on June 22. If convicted, Roske faces a maximum sentence of life in federal prison.
This story has been updated with additional developments Wednesday.
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CNN’s Whitney Wild and Shawna Mizelle contributed to this report.
