A Florida lawyer has admitted guilt to attempting to detonate explosives with a rifle near the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., as well as bombing a sculpture of communist leaders in San Antonio, Texas. The culprit, Christopher Rodriguez, 45, from Panama City, Florida, will face sentencing on October 28 by Chief Judge James Boasberg in Washington. According to court records, Rodriguez may be sentenced to seven to 10 years in prison, as per the terms of his plea agreement.
Rodriguez confessed to three charges, including damaging property occupied by a foreign government, damaging federal property with explosives, and possessing an unregistered firearm. He detailed his actions of driving from Florida to Washington in the early hours of September 25, 2023, where he placed a backpack with explosives near the Chinese embassy. Despite attempting to detonate the explosives by shooting at the backpack, he missed.
In a separate incident in November 2022, Rodriguez traveled to San Antonio, breached a fence surrounding a sculpture of Lenin and Mao, and set off explosives using a rifle, causing damage to the artwork. His guilty plea included the acknowledgment of these actions.
