Man arrested with explosives outside D.C. church's Red Mass
Washington, D.C., police arrested Louis Geri on October 5 outside the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle during preparations for the annual Red Mass honoring the Supreme Court. The 41-year-old man possessed over 200 explosive devices and a manifesto expressing animosity toward the Catholic Church, Supreme Court justices, and others. He faces multiple charges, including possession of destructive devices and hate crimes.
On October 5, 2024, as police cleared the area around the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle for the 72nd Annual Red Mass—a tradition where a cardinal prays for the Supreme Court at the start of its term—officers encountered Louis Geri, 41, from Vineland, New Jersey, and recently residing in Mesa, Arizona. Geri was inside a green tent on the church steps and warned officers, according to an affidavit, "You might want to stay back and call the federales, I have explosives."
When informed he needed to move due to the special event, Geri replied, "I’m aware of that (referring to the Red Mass)," and threatened to throw a bomb into the street, stating, "I have a hundred plus of them." As officers prepared to remove him, he said, "Several of your people are gonna die from one of these." He then handed over nine pieces of paper forming a manifesto titled "Written Negotiations for the Avoidance of Destruction of Property via Detonation of Explosives," which, per police, revealed "his significant animosity towards the Catholic church, members of the Jewish faith, members of SCOTUS and ICE/ICE facilities."
Geri shifted his thumb on a butane lighter and warned, "You better have these people step away or there’s going to be deaths." He briefly left the tent to urinate on a tree, where three officers apprehended him. He admitted to having a device in his pocket, which a bomb squad identified as a vial containing yellow liquid with an M-device taped to it.
A search of the tent uncovered "a large cache of handmade destructive devices," later detailed in a Monday affidavit as over 200 functional items, including vials smelling of acetone and containing nitro methane mixed with other chemicals. In a jailhouse interview, Geri explained he planned to detonate modified bottle rockets treated with a thermite solution from a distance.
Geri, who served prison time in Arizona from August 2022 to May 2023 for a 2021 indecent exposure conviction, faces charges including unlawful entry, possession of explosives for unlawful purposes, threats to injure, assault on police officers (two counts), possession of a destructive device, manufacture or possession of a weapon of mass destruction (hate crime), and resisting arrest. He is held without bond.
No Supreme Court justices attended this year's Red Mass due to security concerns, unlike last year when Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett participated. The incident occurred two days after a federal judge sentenced Nicholas Roske, who plotted to assassinate Kavanaugh in 2022, to eight years—below guidelines calling for 30 years to life—prompting criticism from prosecutors and Senator Ted Cruz for potentially undermining deterrence.