Authorities say this gun was recovered from the van of Taylor Taranto in Washington, D.C. (U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.)
The man arrested last month with multiple firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition near the Washington, D.C., home of former President Barack Obama is a Navy veteran who served in combat in Iraq, the service said Friday.
Taylor Franklin Taranto, 37, served in the sea service from 2004 to 2010 and earned a Combat Action Ribbon while serving on a deployment to Iraq, Navy records show. The Combat Action Ribbon is awarded to Marines, sailors and Coast Guard members "who have actively participated in ground or surface combat,” according to the services.
Taranto, who is from Washington state, was captured by Washington Metropolitan police June 29 in the neighborhood where the former president and his wife, Michelle, live. The veteran was arrested after Secret Service agents observed him walking near a restricted area close to the Obamas’ home, according to federal prosecutors. A search of the van in which Taranto had been living and parked near the Obamas’ home turned up at least two firearms, a machete, “hundreds of rounds of nine-millimeter ammunition,” and bomb-making materials, according to court documents.
Taranto also was wanted on four misdemeanor charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection in which he was accused of unlawfully entering the U.S. Capitol. Prosecutors intend to charge him with felony counts, they told a judge during a hearing Thursday, CNN reported. The prosecutors did not reveal the specific charges Taranto might face.
Prosecutors alleged Taranto had made threats online against House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., according to CNN. Raskin is a prominent lawmaker involved in the House investigation into former President Donald Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021. CNN also reported Taranto was part of a group of people who entered an elementary school near Raskin’s Maryland home, walked throughout the school and used a projector to “display a film related to Jan. 6.” Prosecutors said Taranto had live-streamed the incident online.
Prosecutors said Taranto also had been live-streaming on the day of his arrest. They allege he had told his YouTube followers that he had been attempting to find a “good angle on a shot,” while near the Obamas’ home.
Taranto’s Navy records show he enlisted in August 2004 and was discharged in November 2010 after reaching the rank of E-5, petty officer second class, in 2009. He initially worked in information warfare before reclassifying to serve in the Seabees as a construction equipment operator, his records show.
He served in Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3, based at Port Hueneme, Calif., from 2008 to 2010, according to his records. That unit routinely deploys around the world to provide expeditionary construction and engineering capabilities to U.S. forces, according to the Navy.
Navy officials declined to provide a characterization of Taranto’s discharge on Friday. However, the federal defender representing him wrote in a court document that he had been honorably discharged from the Navy.
Taranto is due back in court on Wednesday, according to CNN.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
