FBI arrests suspect for military mail attacks - and he has a long criminal history

The FBI arrested a suspect in the investigation into threatening and suspicious packages sent to military buildings, and he has a long criminal history, including a history of mental illness.

Here's who the FBI arrested

The FBI explained how they arrested a Washington state man in their investigation through a statement released Tuesday.

"On March 26, 2018, suspicious packages were received at multiple U.S. government facilities in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area," the statement read. "The FBI responded, and each package was collected and will be analyzed at the FBI Laboratory at Quantico, Virginia."

"The FBI investigation determined that the packages contained potential destructive devices and appeared to be sent by the same individual from the Seattle, Washington, area," the FBI continued. "The individual, Thanh Cong Phan, 43, was taken into custody by FBI Seattle and the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office at his residence in Everett, Washington, on March 26."

A long history of violence and mental illness

Phan was convicted in 1990 for second-degree assault as a juvenile. In 2011, he was approached by sheriff's deputies after a call about a man with mental problems, and he told them he had a gun in his backpack.

They discovered a loaded .357-caliber handgun and charged him with second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. The charge was dismissed when he entered a program to help those with mental illness.

Also in 2011, Phan stole a car from a gas station in Redding, California, and said that he had killed his brother, but police discovered that he had not.

Phan was also divorced based on his former wife blaming his mental illness challenges.

Here's a Fox News video report about the capture:

Defense Secretary James Mattis commented on the arrest Tuesday, saying, "Basically, there's a set procedure. They went through the procedure. We've had nobody injured and all those packages and all the evidence is accessible or in the hands of the FBI right now."

The FBI warned that there might be other packages from the suspect en route to other facilities, and asked for the public to be vigilant in response to the possible threat.