Watch CBS News

Homeland Security Employee Caught With Gun, Knife Arrested

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Authorities have arrested a Department of Homeland Security employee on charges related to entering his agency's Washington headquarters with a gun, a knife, an infrared camera, pepper spray and handcuffs.

A seven-count indictment unsealed Friday in U.S. District Court in Martinsburg charges federal government employee Jonathan Leigh Wienke with illegally building a silencer on an unregistered pistol and having materials to build more silencers.

He was arrested Friday in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Ashley Lough with the U.S. attorney's office in northern West Virginia said the arrest was related to a search warrant on Wienke's Martinsburg house.

Previous court documents allege Wienke carried weapons in his backpack into his office building the morning of June 9. The documents say the government has probable cause to believe Wienke may have been "planning to commit violence against senior DHS officials in the building."

(Copyright 2016 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.