Carter Camacho guilty plea follows armed run toward Capitol
Carter Camacho admitted gun and child pornography counts after prosecutors said he ran toward the Capitol with a loaded shotgun.
By Sal Moretti · Money Reporter
3 min read
Carter Camacho’s guilty plea came Monday in Washington after federal authorities said the 18-year-old Georgia man ran toward the U.S. Capitol with a loaded shotgun, body armor and camouflage clothing.
Court records show Camacho, of Smyrna, Georgia, pleaded guilty to illegally possessing a firearm on Capitol grounds. He also pleaded guilty to receipt or distribution of child pornography, a count prosecutors said came from a search of his phone after his arrest.
No one was injured, and Camacho did not get inside the Capitol, according to federal prosecutors. He has been held in jail since his Feb. 17 arrest.
Why was Carter Camacho arrested at the Capitol?
Prosecutors said surveillance video showed Camacho getting out of a parked car and running toward the Capitol’s west side, the side facing the National Mall, while carrying the shotgun. U.S. Capitol Police officers ordered him to stop and get on the ground, and he complied, according to authorities.
U.S. Capitol Police Chief Michael Sullivan said in February that officers challenged the armed man and ordered him to drop the weapon. Sullivan said the man did so.
At the time, Sullivan did not name Camacho, but said the person stopped by police had been wearing a tactical vest and tactical gloves. Sullivan also said the shotgun was loaded and that the man had additional ammunition.
Officers later found a Kevlar helmet and a gas mask in Camacho’s vehicle, Sullivan said.
What prosecutors say Camacho told police
Federal prosecutors said Camacho told police after he was stopped that he wanted to confront members of Congress and “scare them into speaking the truth.”
According to prosecutors, Camacho also told officers he bought the shotgun for “home defense” less than a week before driving from Georgia to Washington, D.C. Prosecutors said he had pepper spray and other tactical gear in his car, which he described as being there “just in case I don’t want to shoot anyone.”
In a court filing, prosecutors said Camacho indicated he had considered using the shotgun to breach a door so he could enter the Capitol.
What happens next in the case?
Camacho is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 8 by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C., according to court records.
The illegal firearm count covers possession of a gun on Capitol grounds. The child pornography count is separate and, according to prosecutors, arose after investigators searched Camacho’s phone following the Capitol arrest.
The case brings together two guilty pleas from the same arrest and phone search: the armed Capitol incident described by police and prosecutors, and the digital evidence prosecutors said they later found.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.