The man accused of throwing a sandwich at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Washington, D.C., was an employee of the Justice Department, Attorney General Pam Bondy said Thursday.
“I learned that this defendant worked for the Department of Justice. He was now working for the Department of Justice. He was not only fired, but also charged with a felony,” Bondy said in a post on X.
Defendant sandwich slinger Shawn Charles Dan worked in the International Affairs Division of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, a DOJ source told NBC News.
Dan’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The incident happened on Sunday night. Dan has begun fueling CBP officials who were patrolling near U Street’s subway sandwich shops, prosecutors said in court filings. The officers appear to have been in the area as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to increase the number of law enforcement in the country’s capital.
Dan, who was swinging around what looked like a long foot sandwich wrapped in fast food staples, cried out, “f — you! you! you! you ga fascists! Are you not here? I don’t want you in my town.”
Current video video of the incident shows the suspect throwing a sandwich into the chest of an officer who appears to be wearing a bullet proof vest.
Dan then “tried to escape on foot” but was soon arrested, the filing said.
Dan also said he admitted to going to DC police officers while the arrest was being processed. “I did that. I threw a sandwich,” Filing quotes him as saying.
It is unknown what kind of sandwich he had. This was simply described as a “sub-style sandwich” in court filings.
Dan was faced with felony charges Wednesday.
“When you touch a law enforcement officer, we’ll come after you,” Bondi said in her social media post.
She also said that Dan “is an example of the deep state we’ve been getting up for seven months while working to focus on DOJ.”
A US lawyer for DC Jeanine Pirro said in a video statement posted on X on Wednesday that the suspect thought the subway strike was “funny.”
“Well, he doesn’t think it’s funny today because we’ve charged him a felony. We’re going to attack the police. And we’re going to put the police back in the handle. So we’ll stick your subway sandwich somewhere else,” Piro said.
