Police arrest retired NY police officer with BB gun, high-capacity magazines outside Capitol

U.S. Capitol Police arrested a man who possessed a fake ID, a BB gun, body armor, high-capacity magazines and other ammunition outside the U.S. Capitol on Friday. 

Police identified the man as 53-year-old Jerome Felipe, a Flint, Mich. resident and retired New York police officer, according to a U.S. Capitol Police release.

A Capitol Police patrol officer approached Felipe before 5 a.m. after he parked his car near Peace Circle on the Capitol’s west side.

Felipe showed officers a fake badge that said “Department of the INTERPOL” on it and said he was a “criminal investigator” with the intergovernmental agency that oversees cooperation among police forces internationally. 

Felipe allowed officers to search his car, where they found the BB gun, two ballistic vests and “several” high-capacity magazines, but police did not find any “real guns,” the release states. 

Investigators are looking into why Felipe was parked near the Capitol. He is facing charges for unlawful possession of high-capacity magazines and unregistered ammunition, according to the release.