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Florida attorney pleads guilty to trying to bomb embassy
(MENAFN) A Florida lawyer has confessed to charges related to two explosive incidents, including an attempted bombing outside the Chinese embassy in Washington DC and the destruction of a controversial sculpture in Texas.
Christopher Rodriguez, a 45-year-old Army veteran from Panama City, Florida, entered a guilty plea in federal court on Friday. The charges against him include damaging property occupied by a foreign government, using explosive materials to damage federal property, and possessing an unregistered firearm.
Court documents reveal that Rodriguez's crime spree began in September of the previous year when he traveled to Washington DC with 15 pounds (7 kg) of tannerite, a commercially available explosive. Rodriguez had hidden the tannerite in a backpack, which he placed behind the embassy's back wall. He then fired at the backpack with a rifle, but missed the target and fled the scene.
Rodriguez was arrested in Louisiana in November after DNA evidence linked him to the backpack. Authorities had previously encountered him in California in 2021, where police confiscated three firearms and two containers of tannerite from his vehicle.
The embassy incident was not Rodriguez's first brush with explosive materials. In November 2022, he traveled to San Antonio, Texas, where he targeted a sculpture titled ‘Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenin’s Head,’ which was on display at the Texas Public Radio building. This act of vandalism followed his earlier attempt to use tannerite in Washington DC.
Christopher Rodriguez, a 45-year-old Army veteran from Panama City, Florida, entered a guilty plea in federal court on Friday. The charges against him include damaging property occupied by a foreign government, using explosive materials to damage federal property, and possessing an unregistered firearm.
Court documents reveal that Rodriguez's crime spree began in September of the previous year when he traveled to Washington DC with 15 pounds (7 kg) of tannerite, a commercially available explosive. Rodriguez had hidden the tannerite in a backpack, which he placed behind the embassy's back wall. He then fired at the backpack with a rifle, but missed the target and fled the scene.
Rodriguez was arrested in Louisiana in November after DNA evidence linked him to the backpack. Authorities had previously encountered him in California in 2021, where police confiscated three firearms and two containers of tannerite from his vehicle.
The embassy incident was not Rodriguez's first brush with explosive materials. In November 2022, he traveled to San Antonio, Texas, where he targeted a sculpture titled ‘Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenin’s Head,’ which was on display at the Texas Public Radio building. This act of vandalism followed his earlier attempt to use tannerite in Washington DC.
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