On this day, Dec. 8, in 1982, anti-nuclear weapons protester Norman Mayer threatened to blow up the Washington Monument with a truckload of dynamite before being shot and killed by United States Park Police.
Mayer, 66, a drifter from Florida, tried to buy dynamite in Kentucky and moved to D.C. that summer, displaying large plywood signs in front of the White House and proselytizing to tourists.
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On this date, 27 years ago, Mayer drove a white van up to the monument and threatened to detonate 1,000 pounds of dynamite.
Through an Associated Press reporter, Mayer issued rambling demands for a ban on nuclear weapons and negotiated the release of eight tourists.
Ten hours later, Mayer jumped in his van and started to drive off, promising to become “a moving time bomb in downtown Washington.”
Police fired dozens of shots at the tires and engine block, one of which ricocheted and fatally struck Mayer in the head. No explosives were found in the van.
— Scott McCabe
