September 27, 2011

A former Marine accused of firing shots at the Pentagon, Marine Corps museum and other military buildings has been charged with damaging his jail cell in an apparent escape attempt.

The Loudoun County sheriff's office says officials noticed damage Friday to a cinder block wall of Yonathan Melaku's holding cell. Officials say the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center is constructed as a maximum security facility.

Melaku is being held at the Leesburg jail in connection with a series of vehicle break-ins.

He was charged in June in federal court with a cluster of overnight shootings in northern Virginia beginning in October. He was arrested after police spotted him in Arlington National Cemetery with a backpack that included ammonium nitrate, which can be used to make bombs.