WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Capitol complex reopened with visibly higher security Tuesday, a day after police say officers shot and wounded a man who pulled a weapon at a security checkpoint as he entered the underground Capitol Visitor Center.
Larry R. Dawson of Tennessee, whom Capitol Police identified as the suspect, remained hospitalized and would not make a court appearance Tuesday, said spokesman Bill Miller of the U.S. attorney's office for the District of Columbia.
The 66-year-old was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and assault on a police officer while armed. Dawson underwent surgery at a local hospital and as of late Monday was in stable but critical condition, police said.
Dawson disrupted a House session last October by yelling he was a "Prophet of God." He was issued a "stay away order" by the District of Columbia Superior Court that same month that required him to avoid the Capitol grounds, court documents show.
Monday's exchange, in which a bystander was slightly wounded, occurred at the tourists' entry point to the building.
Later Monday, spokesman Susan Griffiths of George Washington University Hospital said that hospital was about to release a patient it had treated for minor injuries and whom it did not identify.
There appeared to be more police officers than usual at some posts outside the buildings as the Capitol and its surrounding buildings resumed business Tuesday.
Even so, the reopening was marred as police investigated a pair of suspicious packages at the Capitol's East Front and Library of Congress Jefferson Building. By mid-morning, both packages had been declared harmless and road closures just outside those buildings were lifted.
Miller of the U.S. attorney's office said that after Dawson's October arrest, he did not appear in court as scheduled the following month. Miller said a bench warrant was issued for his arrest in January. Dawson wrote the court a letter in which he claimed to be exempt from laws because he is a prophet of God.
"No longer will I let myself be governed by flesh and blood, but only by the Divine Love of God," he wrote, adding four exclamation points.
Other court paperwork said Dawson said he was previously in the Army and was honorably discharged in 1971.
An attorney listed as representing him in the case from October, John Copacino, did not immediately return a telephone message and an email requesting comment Monday afternoon.
Records show Dawson was previously licensed in Tennessee to work as a funeral director. After his license expired in 2004, the state's Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers voted three times to deny requests from Dawson to reinstate his license, citing the "applicant's lack of good moral character."
Kevin Walters, a spokesman for the state funeral board, said the denial resulted from an incident that occurred while Dawson was working as a school bus driver in a Nashville suburb. Dawson had written a letter to a young girl saying that God had told him to have sex with her, Walters said.
In 1998, before the Visitor Center was built, two Capitol police officers were fatally shot by a gunman who stormed a security checkpoint inside the Capitol. That shooter, Russell Eugene Weston Jr., was wounded and is in custody at a federal mental facility.
Monday's exchange, which Capitol Police Chief Matthew Verderosa said began at 2:39 p.m. Eastern time, unfolded with Congress on recess and the capital swarming with springtime tourists, and with nearly all lawmakers away on recess.
The Capitol was on lockdown for about an hour Monday, and the White House also was briefly locked down.
Information for this article was contributed by Mark Sherman, Michael Biesecker, Mary Clare Jalonick, Jessica Gresko and Erica Werner of The Associated Press.
A Section on 03/30/2016