80-Year-Old Georgia Man Faces Charges for Bringing Guns to Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON — Tony Payne, 80, of Tunnel Hill, Georgia, is facing multiple gun charges Thursday morning after he illegally parked his van on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol Wednesday afternoon.
U.S. Capitol police officers first noticed the white van was illegally parked on the 100 block of East Capitol Street at about 3:45 p.m. Wednesday.
The officers, accompanied by a member of the department’s K-9 team, responded, and Payne was arrested after the K-9 alerted officers to the presence of firearms in the vehicle and the driver confirmed he had them.
Payne, another man, and a woman were all detained during the subsequent search, during which officers found two handguns and a shotgun inside the van.
Because a pipe and assorted containers were also found in the van, the USCP Hazardous Incident Response Division did its own thorough search of the vehicle and ultimately cleared the van for removal.
Payne and those with him told investigators they were in Washington to deliver documents to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The U.S. Capitol Police note that despite the fact weapons are banned from Capitol grounds, dozens of people are arrested each year for violating the law.
Payne was charged with carrying an unregistered firearm, carrying unregistered ammunition and carrying a pistol without a license,
The woman and the other man, who were with him were briefly detained, but were not arrested.
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