Alleged Capitol gunman reportedly spent time in mental institution

The man shot by police Monday while allegedly brandishing a gun at the U.S. Capitol is a self-styled Tennessee pastor who was reportedly committed to a mental institution in 2005 and had recently been ordered by a judge to stay away from the Capitol grounds.

The suspect, identified as Larry Russell Dawson, 66, of the Nashville area, is in stable but critical condition at a Washington, D.C., hospital.

Authorities said Dawson was shot after setting off a metal detector and waving a firearm at officers at an entrance to the Capitol Visitor Center.

Monday’s incident came five months after Dawson, according to D.C. Superior Court records, was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer and unlawful conduct for shouting Bible verses in the House chamber gallery.

“I’m a prophet of God,” Dawson yelled to lawmakers before allegedly getting in a scuffle with Capitol police.

The website for St. Luke’s Community Church in Antioch, Tenn., lists Dawson as the congregation’s pastor and elder. The site makes no mention of the church’s specific denomination.

It’s unknown why Dawson was in D.C. on Monday, but a video on the church’s site shows him holding a sign advocating for minimum wage to be increased from $7.25 to $15.

“I have been to Washington, D.C., three (3) times this year pushing for a raise in the minmum [sic] wage,” states Dawson on the site. “We ask you to help us, by giving a donation of any amount, as we began [sic] our ministry. And push for the raise in the minmum [sic] wage.”

After his October arrest, Judge Renee Raymond released Dawson without bail on the promise he would return for a Nov. 19 hearing. And, at the prosecutor's request, she also ordered Dawson to stay away from the Capitol and surrounding areas.

An arrest warrant was issued for Dawson when he skipped court in November. According to the Washington Post, Dawson wrote the court in January to explain his absence:

“I have been called chosen and sent unto You this day. I am not under the Law! ... Therefore, I will not comply with the court order, nor will I surrender myself unto your office.”

The letter adds: “For sin shall not dominion over you. For you are Not under the law, but under Grace!!!” It concludes, “No longer will I let myself be governed by flesh and blood, but only by the Divine Love of God!!!!”

According to state records, Dawson was a licensed funeral director and embalmer from 1972 until 2004, when his application for renewal was rejected.

“Apparently … Mr. Dawson wrote a letter to an underage girl telling her that God told him to have sex with her,” Kevin Walters, spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, told the Tennessean. “So the board denied him in those instances.”

The Tennessean reported in August 2003 that Dawson was arrested and charged writing harassing letters to a teenage girl he met as a school bus driver before being fired for inappropriate behavior in 2001.

The newspaper reports Dawson, according to state criminal records, was found “not guilty — reason of insanity” on two of three harassment charges, and acquitted on another.

The insanity plea led to a Tennessee judge committing Dawson to a mental institution in 2005. The judge’s commitment order stated Dawson was “substantially likely” to be a danger to himself or others if he was not treated, the newspaper learned from court records Tuesday. It was not immediately known how long he was committed.

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The commitment order apparently did not surface before the D.C. court released him in October. According to a report obtained by Yahoo News, a background check identified one of Dawson’s arrests for harassment but noted that it had no information on the outcome of the case. Pretrial Services Agency, a federal entity that assists D.C. courts, recommended he be on his own personal recognizance.

PSA director Cliff Keenan said a mental health commitment wouldn't be revealed in the common criminal records check they do.

"That kind of information is not accessible for initial appearance purposes," Keenan told Yahoo News. "It's kind of an interesting question. The more data that either judges or law enforcement have, the better. It certainly raises the question should we be a little more expansive."

Once he’s released from the hospital, Dawson will face charges of assault with a deadly weapon and assault on a police officer while armed.

Jason Sickles is a national reporter for Yahoo News. Follow him on Twitter (@jasonsickles).