The California man who was charged with attempted murder of Justice Kavanaugh reportedly deliberated on whether to execute his plot for half an hour, texting with his sister as he strolled through a Maryland neighborhood before ultimately turning himself into police.
Armed with a handgun and burglary tools, Nicholas Roske flew into Washington, D.C., from California and took a taxi directly to the justice’s house just after 1. a.m. on Wednesday, but walked away from the front yard when he saw two deputy U.S. marshals guarding the house, according to court records. As Roske retreated, walking about one-and-a-half blocks away, he sent a text message describing his plan to his sister, who may have persuaded him to contact authorities, the Washington Post uncovered.
“The suspect arrived by taxi and observed the U.S. marshals, and he turned around to contemplate his next move,” Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones told the Post. “This is when he texted his sister and told her of his intentions, and she convinced him to call 911, which he did.”
He then called 911 twice, once at 1:38 a.m and again at 1:39 a.m. The second call prompted a response from Montgomery County police officers who drove to his location and detained him around 1:52 a.m, according to recordings from Montgomery’s Emergency Communications Center obtained by the Post.
When Roske arrived at the house in the early hours of the morning, after finding the justice’s address on the internet, he brought with him multiple weapons and miscellaneous items that suggest a calculated plan to stealthily break into the justice’s home under cover of night and murder him.
“An inventory search of the seized suitcase and backpack revealed a black tactical chest rig and tactical knife, a Glock 17 with two magazines and ammunition, pepper spray, zip ties, a hammer, screwdriver, nail punch, crow bar, pistol light, duct tape, hiking boots with padding on the outside of the soles, and other items,” according to the criminal complaint. The padded boots would have helped Roske enter and move through the Kavanaugh home quietly.
Roske confessed to police that he intended to kill Kavanaugh because he was angry about the surprise leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion that suggested a reversal of Roe v. Wade, and because he “believed that the Justice he intended to kill would side with Second Amendment decisions that would loosen gun control laws,” according to an FBI affidavit.
It is unclear what Roske’s sister communicated to him before he surrendered to police. However, about 33 minutes reportedly passed from when Roske spotted the marshals standing guard around Kavanaugh’s home to when he called 911, the Post gathered from court records and Montgomery County 911 recordings.
“At approximately 1:05 a.m., two United States Deputy Marshals saw an individual dressed in black clothing and carrying a backpack and a suitcase get out of a taxicab that had stopped in front of the Montgomery County, Maryland, residence of a current justice of the United States Supreme Court,” the FBI affidavit reveals. “The individual looked at the two Deputy Marshals, who were standing next to their parked vehicle, and then turned to walk down the street.”
While authorities work to determine what exactly led Roske to reconsider and ultimately abandon his plan, a representative of the marshals seems to believe that their presence was a major contributor in thwarting violent action.
“We believe the presence of the deputies assigned outside of Justice Kavanaugh’s home served as the deterrent in this incident,” Drew J. Wade, chief of the Office of Public Affairs for the U.S. Marshals Service, told the Post. “While the deputies did not witness anything that would have resulted in an enforcement action, their vigilance and posture averted a potential violent act against the Justice.”