United States Capitol Police arrested a California man Tuesday after officers spotted a fully assembled guillotine standing upright in the bed of his pickup truck just steps from the US Capitol and beside the Supreme Court. Officers noticed the vehicle shortly after 3 p.m. on Tuesday, August 25, 2026. The truck was illegally parked along the 100 block of East Capitol Street, a short stretch that sits east of the Capitol grounds between the Supreme Court building and the Library of Congress.
Police seized the tall wooden frame device and took the driver into custody. The suspect is Philan Tam Duy Le, 35, of Julian, California, a small community in San Diego County. He was charged with carrying a dangerous weapon for possessing the guillotine. He was also cited for illegal parking next to the Supreme Court grounds.
Capitol Police said Le had driven from California to Washington, a trip of more than 2500 miles. Investigators are reviewing his background and items in his possession to learn why he came to the capital with the device. Photos released by Capitol Police show the guillotine standing in an upright position in the truck bed. The wooden frame rose several feet above the roof of the pickup and into nearby tree branches.
The apparatus is the kind of machine historically used for beheading, with a heavy blade meant to drop along a tall frame. It is most closely associated with public executions during the French Revolution. Congress was in recess at the time of the arrest, so lawmakers were not at the Capitol. The Supreme Court was also in its summer recess.
Even so, the sight of an execution device parked so close to two of the nation’s most protected civic buildings immediately drew attention. Officers photographed the scene and later towed the truck. Police have not announced a completed motive. A statement from Capitol Police said investigators are going through the suspect’s background to learn more about why he came to Washington.
Some reporting also noted that officers were examining a backpack. An Instagram account that appeared to belong to Le included a video posted the same day showing a man with the guillotine outside FBI headquarters in Washington. In the clip the man says he is outside the FBI building just eating some cheese pizza. The post used the phrase Guillotine adventures and indicated Capitol Hill was next.
Le’s older brother Kelvin later told reporters he believed the guillotine was meant as a symbol of disapproval of the country’s political climate. The brother said he did not support either President Donald Trump or California Governor Gavin Newsom. Police have not confirmed that explanation as the official reason for the trip. The arrest arrives amid a broader rise in reported threats against members of Congress and other officials.
Capitol Police have previously noted that threats against lawmakers increased for a third consecutive year in 2025. Last month, officers arrested another man at a Capitol barricade after finding a handgun, which is prohibited on Capitol grounds. Security around the complex remains among the tightest in the country. A guillotine is not a common object on American streets.
It consists of a tall wooden frame and a weighted blade designed to fall onto the neck of a person held in place. France used the machine for capital punishment for nearly two centuries. The last official execution by guillotine in France took place in 1977. In the United States the device has no role in the justice system.
Its appearance next to the Capitol and Supreme Court therefore stood out as both unusual and unsettling. Images of the truck began circulating on social media Tuesday evening as officers documented the scene. Some observers compared the visual to the gallows erected near the Capitol during the events of January 6, 2021. Authorities have not said the two incidents are connected.
They have treated Tuesday’s case as a weapons investigation centered on the presence of the seized device and the driver’s decision to park it in a restricted area. As of Wednesday morning, Le remained under investigation. Capitol Police have not released additional charges beyond carrying a dangerous weapon and the parking citation. They have not said whether the blade was functional, whether the machine was a replica, or whether Le planned any specific act.
Those questions sit with investigators as they continue to examine his travel, his social media posts, and his stated or unstated purpose for coming east. The case is straightforward in its public facts and unfinished in its meaning. A man drove across the country, parked illegally beside the Supreme Court, and had a guillotine in the open bed of his truck. Police saw it, seized it, and arrested him.
Why he made the trip, and what he intended the machine to represent, is the part officials say they are still trying to determine. The unusual cargo, the location, and the distance traveled have made the arrest one of the most closely watched local stories in Washington this week. Further details will depend on what investigators find in Le’s background and what, if anything, he tells them about the long drive from Julian to East Capitol Street.
