A Milwaukee man is in jail after allegedly making online threats against the Capitol and showing up to the building with what he allegedly said was a Molotov cocktail.
Kvon Smith, 20, faces a number of charges and is in a Dane County jail, according to Dane County Deputy District Attorney Chris Freeman.
The charges include carrying a concealed weapon and attempting to possess Molotov cocktails. One of the charges could transform into a possessing Molotov cocktails charge once crime lab data comes back on what the materials inside the bottles were, Freeman said.
Capitol Police arrested Smith in the Capitol rotunda last Tuesday after the department posted officers at all entrances looking for him.
“A tragedy was avoided, and our Capitol remains safe because of the actions of our officers yesterday,” Department Of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch said in a statement the day after the arrest.
Smith posted a video on his Facebook early Tuesday with five alcohol bottles on a counter. A male voice in the video said the bottles were Molotov cocktails he intended to use in the Capitol that day, the same day as the State of the State address.
Capitol Police received word of the potential threat and called a number of law enforcement agencies for help, DOA spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis said. The additional help came on top of the already larger police presence in preparation for Gov. Scott Walker’s speech that night.
After officers recognized Smith at an entrance, they arrested him in the rotunda, where he allegedly said he was carrying a Molotov cocktail in his backpack. Officers then examined the backpack’s contents in a Dane County bomb squad truck.
In the video Smith posted online, the voice said he would use what he described as Molotov cocktails that day.
“We’ll see what they have to say when I bring it to the Capitol,” the man said in the video. “If they want peace, they bring it to Milwaukee. If they want peace, I want my money … and justice. … Because I sued the shit out of them.”
Dane County court records show in mid-December, Smith’s sister called police to talk to her brother since he was “not right in his mind.” Smith then allegedly resisted an officer. When he was released, Smith said he was missing his cellphone, and when police told him he never had it in jail, he allegedly hurt an officer.
Smith then filed a federal lawsuit Dec. 26 against the state’s elections agency, the Dane County Sheriff’s Office and the Badgers football team. In his complaint, Smith said they conspired to commit bankruptcy and violated privacy and civil rights laws.
After talking to Smith’s family, the Wisconsin State Journal reported Smith is schizophrenic and recently stopped taking his medication.
Marquis said Capitol Police detained one other man who matched multiple characteristics of Smith’s description, including that he carried a bag.
Madison Area Technical College student Colin Bowden, 25, said he was handcuffed in the rotunda. Bowden said based off the mugshot, he does not look like Smith.
Marquis emphasized Bowden matched the description and that this was a “very real threat.” She added the officers followed protocol and did an “amazing job” ensuring the Capitol was safe.
