California man arrested near Capitol with guillotine in pickup truck, cops say

A California man was busted Tuesday after cops allegedly found a guillotine in the back of his pickup truck near the US Capitol and the Supreme Court Building.

Philan-Tam-Duy Le, 35, of Julian, California, had driven all the way from the Golden State to Washington, DC, before US Capitol Police spotted his pickup illegally parked along the 100 block of East Capitol Street shortly after 3 p.m.

Then officers spotted the shocking cargo.

A guillotine was sitting in the truck bed, according to USCP.

Officers seized the device and arrested Le on a charge of carrying a dangerous weapon.

He was also cited for illegally parking next to the Supreme Court grounds.

Pictures released by Capitol Police show the guillotine was fully assembled and standing in an upright position in the bed of the pickup truck.

Now investigators are digging into the background of the California man and why he came to the nation’s capital with an execution device in his truck.

The device is an execution instrument designed to kill by beheading.

It features a heavy blade mounted on a tall wooden frame and was invented in late-18th-century France.

It later became an infamous symbol of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution.

Owning a guillotine on private property is generally not a crime.

Bringing a dangerous weapon into protected government areas is another matter.

The Capitol complex and Supreme Court grounds are subject to strict federal and local security rules governing objects brought near government buildings.

Le remains under investigation as USCP works to determine why the Julian, California, resident made the cross-country trek to Washington and arrived near the nation’s most heavily guarded government buildings with a guillotine.

The California Post reached out to Capitol Police for more information.

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