A Florida attorney has confessed to attempting to set off explosives near the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., on Friday. Christopher Rodriguez, 45, from Panama City, Florida, also admitted to bombing a sculpture of Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong outside the Texas Public Radio building in San Antonio, Texas, in 2022.
The Department of Justice seal during a press conference at the DOJ office in Washington, May 16, 2023. On August 2, 2024, Florida attorney Christopher Rodriguez pleaded guilty to attempting to detonate explosives near the Chinese embassy in 2023 and bombing a sculpture of Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong in San Antonio, Texas, in 2022. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
Rodriguez, who is scheduled for sentencing by Chief Judge James Boasberg on October 28, faces a recommended prison term of seven to ten years under a plea agreement. He has been charged with three offenses: damaging property of a foreign government, damaging federal property with explosives, and possessing an unregistered firearm.
In his guilty plea, Rodriguez detailed how he traveled from Florida to Washington and took a taxi to the vicinity of the Chinese embassy on September 25, 2023. He placed a backpack containing approximately 15 pounds of explosives near a wall and fence surrounding the embassy. Rodriguez attempted to detonate the explosives by shooting at the backpack with a rifle but missed.