Man in custody after 'suspicious' vehicle found outside Supreme Court

WASHINGTON – A man is in custody after Capitol Police found a "suspicious vehicle" outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday, which forced the agency to close down streets to investigate. 

"One of our teams just moved in and extracted the man from the SUV," the agency tweeted at 11 a.m. ET. "The man is in custody. Everyone is safe."

USCP identified the man as Dale Paul Melvin, a 55-year-old from Kimball, Michigan. 

Deputy Chief Jason Bell told reporters Tuesday the man pulled his SUV up to the Supreme Court this morning and when police officers approached him, he "made a statement to the effect of: 'The time for talking is done.'"

The man continued to refuse to talk, Bell said, so officers “moved in and removed him from the vehicle, and placed him under arrest.” 

Bell reiterated it is an ongoing investigation and that no weapons have been found.

Earlier in the day, the agency had advised the public to stay away from the area, which has increasingly been the scene of attacks and threats.

Officers closed off streets in front of the court, which began its new term Monday with volatile issues such as abortion, gun rights and religion featured prominently on the docket in coming weeks.

The court began its daily oral arguments as planned at 10 a.m. ET and there was no indication of the police activity taking place outside.

Last month, Capitol Police arrested a man carrying a bayonet and machete in a truck bearing white supremacist symbols near the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington.

In August, A 49-year-old North Carolina man, who claimed to be carrying a bomb in a pickup truck parked near the U.S. Capitol, peacefully surrendered to police after an hours-long standoff with authorities that prompted an evacuation of parts of the government complex.

In April, a U.S. Capitol Police officer was killed and another hospitalized after a man rammed a car into a security barrier near the U.S. Capitol building on Friday.

Those incidents followed Jan. 6, when a mob of former President Donald Trump's supporters overwhelmed police and broke into Capitol.

More:Bomb suspect surrenders to police near US Capitol, North Carolina man claimed to have bomb in pickup

Contributing: John Fritze, USA TODAY