A New Jersey man was taken into custody with over 200 explosive devices outside a Washington, D.C., cathedral on Sunday, October 5, 2025, just hours before the Red Mass ceremony that usually attracts Supreme Court justices and other legal figures.
Louis Geri, 41, from Vineland, New Jersey, was arrested around 6 a.m. at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle after he set up a tent on the church steps and ignored police orders to vacate. Officers were conducting a security inspection ahead of the Red Mass, which signals the beginning of the Supreme Court’s new term.
Upon police approach, Geri warned officers to step back and contact federal authorities due to his possession of explosives. The Metropolitan Police Department’s Bomb Squad dispatched a bomb technician to negotiate with Geri, who remained inside his tent.
During the standoff, Geri threatened to demonstrate his weapons by detonating one on the street, claiming he had more than 100 explosive devices. He also threatened officers with fatal consequences if they attempted to forcibly remove him.
Geri later provided police with a nine-page manifesto titled “Written Negotiations for the Avoidance of Destruction of Property via Detonation of Explosives,” expressing hostility toward the Catholic Church, Jewish people, Supreme Court members, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Police apprehended Geri when he moved away from his tent to a nearby area with trees on the church property. A search revealed a vial of explosive material and a butane lighter in his pocket.
Authorities found a large number of handmade explosive devices inside Geri’s tent. The collection included grenades, Molotov cocktails, bottle rockets altered with aluminum foil heads treated in thermite solution, and vials of nitromethane, the compound used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
In police interviews, Geri described his devices as grenades and explosives with nitromethane, secured with rubber bands for detonation. He planned to use modified bottle rockets for remote detonation. Police noted that some devices emitted a strong acetone odor and appeared operational.
This was not Geri’s first incident with cathedral security. Records indicate he was previously banned from the premises after refusing to remove his tent on September 26, 2025. St. Matthew’s business manager provided the paperwork of the prior incident to the police.
Court records show Geri has a criminal record in Arizona, including a 2021 indecent exposure conviction in Scottsdale. He received probation but violated it, serving several months in Arizona state prison before his release in May 2023. During his trial, Geri defended himself, arguing that public nudity was a constitutional right.
The Red Mass, an annual Catholic event, occurs on the Sunday before the Supreme Court’s new term begins. Celebrated for 73 years, it seeks blessings for those administering justice and often draws Supreme Court justices, diplomats, and legal officials.
No Supreme Court justices attended this year’s ceremony due to the security threat, as confirmed by a court spokesperson. The Red Mass start was delayed while authorities secured the scene, but police later confirmed there was no ongoing public safety threat.
During Sunday’s Mass, Cardinal Robert McElroy emphasized the need to curb confrontational political rhetoric, linking it to political violence. He cited recent assassination attempts and the January 6 Capitol incident as evidence of the shift from civil dialogue to force and fear.
The incident followed the sentencing of a California man to eight years in prison for an assassination attempt on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2022. Supreme Court justices have faced increased threats following the 2022 leak of the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Geri faces several federal charges, including unlawful entry, possession of a Molotov cocktail, threats to kidnap or injure, assault on a police officer, manufacture or possession of a weapon of mass destruction as a hate crime, and resisting arrest. He is held without bond.
The investigation involves multiple agencies, including the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Geri admitted to knowing about the 9 a.m. Red Mass when police confronted him.
