WASHINGTON — A Georgia teenager who rushed toward the U.S. Capitol while carrying a loaded shotgun and wearing body armor and camouflage pleaded guilty Monday to a federal firearms offense, according to court filings.
Federal prosecutors said 18-year-old Carter Camacho, of Smyrna, Georgia, told officers who stopped him outside the Capitol on Feb. 17 that he planned to confront lawmakers and “scare them into speaking the truth.” Authorities said Camacho never entered the building, and no one was hurt.
Camacho, who has been held in custody since his arrest, is set to be sentenced Dec. 8 by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C.
His guilty plea covered two charges: unlawful possession of a firearm on Capitol grounds and receipt or distribution of child pornography. Prosecutors said the child pornography charge resulted from a search of Camacho’s phone after he was taken into custody.
Surveillance footage showed Camacho getting out of a parked vehicle and running toward the Capitol’s west side with the shotgun in his hands. Capitol Police officers ordered him to stop and get on the ground, and he complied.
According to prosecutors, Camacho told investigators he had bought the shotgun for “home defense” less than a week before driving from Georgia to Washington. He also said he had pepper spray and other tactical equipment in his car “just in case I don’t want to shoot anyone,” prosecutors said.
“He further indicated that he considered using the shotgun to breach a door to be able to enter the Capitol,” prosecutors wrote.
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