Suspect attempted to enter Washington, DC, synagogue with firearm — police

Police in Washington, DC, detained a suspect who attempted to enter a synagogue with an unregistered firearm over the weekend, the city’s Metropolitan Police Department said on Monday.

There were no injuries and the incident did not appear to be an attempted attack.

Police officers received a call from the Washington Hebrew Congregation at around 10:15 a.m. on Saturday, a department spokesperson said.

Synagogue security staff told responding officers that they had found the firearm with a metal detector, confiscated the weapon, and detained the suspect.

Police recovered the firearm and arrested 32-year-old Tyler Finn at the scene, the department said.

Finn, from Lynchburg, Virginia, was charged with carrying a pistol without a license and possession of an unregistered firearm and ammunition.

The synagogue said that security had found and confiscated a loaded, unregistered revolver and two pocket knives on the suspect.

The man arrived ahead of Shabbat services and was visiting with a religious studies class from Liberty University in Virginia. The religious studies program has previously visited the congregation as part of an interfaith program, Washington Hebrew Congregation said.

The congregation said the man later told police that he had brought the weapons “due to safety concerns for himself and occupants based on recent news reports.” The suspect also admitted that the firearm was unregistered.

The synagogue said it has “made significant investments in security, and Saturday’s incident demonstrated that the security measures we have in place worked as intended.”

The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington said there were no known, ongoing threats to the local Jewish community.

Rusty Rosenthal, the executive director of regional security at the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, said it did not appear that the incident was an attempted attack, although the investigation was not yet complete.

“This is an example of security done right at an institution that takes it seriously and has a really good culture of security in place,” Rosenthal said. “That’s really what we’re trying to cultivate across the entire community, amongst all institutions.”

The synagogue is a prominent Reform congregation, founded in 1852, with around 2,000 member families, according to its website.

US Jewish communities have invested vast sums in security since a white supremacist murdered 11 congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018.

Those efforts have increased due to the surge in antisemitism following the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorist invasion of Israel.

The Jewish Federations of North America estimated in September that US Jewish communities spend around $1.05 billion on security per year.

In May 2025, an anti-Zionist shooter murdered two Israeli embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC.

Also last year, an anti-Zionist attacker firebombed a rally for Israeli hostages in Boulder, Colorado, killing an elderly woman.

There have been repeated terror attack attempts against US Jews in recent years that were thwarted by law enforcement and Jewish community security organizations or guards.

Last year was the deadliest year for Diaspora Jews in decades, with 20 Jews murdered in four separate incidents.