A Florida attorney has pleaded guilty to charges related to bombing a sculpture in San Antonio, Texas, and attempting to bomb the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C. The attorney, Christopher Rodriguez from Panama City, admitted to his crimes yesterday. The charges include damaging property occupied by a foreign government and possession of an unregistered firearm, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, as reported by the San Antonio Report.

According to the same report, Rodriguez caused an explosion at the base of a satirical sculpture named “Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenin’s Head,” which combines the imagery of Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong. The piece has sparked controversy since its installation in downtown San Antonio, with critics viewing it as a tacit endorsement of communist ideologies in November 2022; he was also involved in a failed attempt to detonate explosives at the Chinese embassy in September 2023. Security footage showed a man placing the explosives at the site before attempting to detonate them with a rifle. The investigation that ensued involved the FBI, the San Antonio Police Department, and other federal agencies.

Back in California during a 2021 arrest, Rodriguez was found with three firearms and materials consistent with those used in the Chinese Embassy incident, which, following DNA testing, were linked to him, confirming involvement in both the San Antonio sculpture bombing and the embassy attack, as detailed by court documents. As per the San Antonio Report, Rodriguez had rented a car to drive from Pensacola to San Antonio where he scaled a fence and placed the explosives.

After his arrest in Lafayette, Louisiana on November 4, 2023, Rodriguez has been in custody; documents from the Florida Bar indicate he has been a member in good standing since 2018, with no previous disciplinary history to note before these incidents. The plea was officially announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves of the District of Columbia and ATF Special Agent Craig B. Kailimai, and Matthew M. Graves of the District of Columbia and Craig B. Kailimai of the ATF’s Washington Field Division, commending the collaborative effort of the FBI’s Washington and San Antonio field offices and Homeland Security's San Antonio field office, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.