UPDATE, 3:58 p.m.: Anderson ordered Melaku to remain in custody pending trial, ruling that he was both a danger to the community and a flight risk. Defense attorney Gregory English argued that Melaku should be released on home detention and with a GPS ankle bracelet. Melaku is on probation in Loudoun County and would face significant consequences if he leaves the county, English said.
ORIGINAL POST: The man accused of firing shots at D.C.-area military buildings last year faces a detention hearing Thursday.
Court records show that 23-year-old Yonathan Melaku, a former Marine reservist, is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Anderson on Thursday afternoon.
Melaku has been transferred to federal custody after he pleaded guilty in a Loudoun County theft case last month. Federal prosecutors allege that he shot at the Pentagon, a Marine Corps recruiting station in Chantilly, a Coast Guard recruiting station in Woodbridge and the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
Anderson on Wednesday ordered that Melaku remain in custody until Thursday’s hearing.
Melaku was arrested in June and charged in the October and November 2010 shootings after authorities say he was found trespassing in Arlington National Cemetery with potentially explosive materials and a notebook with writings mentioning al Qaeda, the Taliban and Osama bin Laden.
All of the shootings happened during the overnight hours. No one was injured.
