Off the grid, heavily armed and radicalized: He's a law enforcement nightmare - NBC News

“I don’t know him, never heard of him and I haven’t heard of anybody that did know him,” said Ken Winkles, mayor of the 1,300-person town of Falkville, where Coffman’s mail is delivered.

“These are the people who keep law enforcement up at night,” said Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI criminal profiler and an NBC News analyst.

The existence of people like Coffman, loner types who amass large collections of weapons and who may become motivated to act on calls to overthrow the government, pose an even greater challenge for law enforcement.

“When you tell no one what you’re doing and do it yourself in a complete void, the only way we find you is, like this guy was found, we’re awful lucky and stumble upon you,” said Van Zandt, who was among a team of investigators that worked to identify the “Unabomber,” Ted Kaczynski.

While sweeping the area with police canines, two Capitol Police officers spotted what appeared to be the handle of a gun on the front-right passenger seat of a red GMC Sierra pickup truck, federal prosecutors said.

Coffman of Falkville, Alabama, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said he stepped out of it five minutes later and headed directly toward the Capitol with a crowd of people.

When Coffman returned to his vehicle around 6:30 p.m., he was stopped by police manning the security cordon and found to be in possession of two handguns, according to federal prosecutors.

Asked about the contents of the jars, Coffman told the officers they contained “melted Styrofoam and gasoline,” according to a Justice Department detention memo.

Jim Cavanaugh, a former special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the homemade devices were designed to act like miniature hand grenades.

“It’s more like a weapon that if someone was in a demonstration they would throw it at the police.

Mike Swafford, the public information officer for the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office, said his department has no records of any contact with Coffman.

Chad Whaley, the director of communications for the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office, said it also has had no dealings with Coffman.

“Around here it’s very common for people to have a lot of guns, to have stockpiles of weapons,” he said.

Coffman’s statements to police following his arrest and some writings found inside his truck indicate he was struggling financially and fixated on right-wing views.

After he was stopped by police, Coffman told the officers he had been living out of his truck in the Washington, D.C., area for around the past week, according to his detention memo.

Van Zandt, the retired FBI profiler, said it’s essential for law enforcement to understand what Coffman planned to do with all of his weapons and what was motivating him in order to identify others like him

“We know there are going to be guys out there that are not happy over the next four years with the Biden administration,” Van Zandt said