U.S. Capitol Police officers detained three people after discovering weapons in an illegally parked van near the Library of Congress and Supreme Court buildings on Wednesday.
Authorities said they recovered two handguns and a shotgun from a small white van that was parked on Capitol grounds and deemed suspicious.
A police K-9 alerted officers to the weapons.
The driver, Tony H. Payne, 80, from Georgia also told investigators that he had weapons in the van, the Capitol Police said in a statement.
He was arrested and charged with having an unregistered firearm and ammunition and carrying a pistol without a license, the Capitol Police said in a statement.
Another man and a woman were briefly detained during the search but were not arrested.
A hazardous incident response team was also called in after a pipe and containers were found in the van, which was cleared after a thorough search.
The individuals told the investigators that they were there to deliver documents to the Supreme Court.
• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.
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