Justice Department employee charged & fired after throwing Subway sandwich at federal law enforcement officer

A Justice Department employee, who became an overnight internet celebrity this week, has been fired and charged with felony assault after allegedly throwing a wrapped sandwich at a federal officer during a federal law enforcement special deployment in Washington, D.C., the night before President Donald Trump seized control of the city’s police force. The employee was a lawyer in the

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Sean Charles Dunn, 37, who lists his experience as a DOJ trial attorney on LinkedIn, worked in the international affairs office of the department’s criminal division, a DOJ source confirmed to CBS News. He was arrested Sunday on the U Street corridor in Northwest Washington, a neighborhood celebrated for its Black cultural legacy and LGBTQ-friendly nightlife. The area has also become a flashpoint since Trump’s early-August decision to flood D.C. streets with federal agents under the banner of a “crime crackdown,” despite Justice Department and Metropolitan Police data showing violent crime at its lowest point in three decades.

According to court filings, Dunn confronted U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent Gregory Lairmore around 11 p.m., standing “within inches” of the agent’s face and shouting, “Fuck you! You fucking fascists! Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!”

Related: Man accused of throwing a Subway sandwich at border agent in D.C. charged with felony

The incident was captured in an Instagram video that quickly went viral online. The footage shows Dunn holding a footlong Subway sandwich in one hand while gesturing with the other, continuing to shout at the officers. After stepping back briefly, he winds his arm behind him and throws the sandwich at Lairmore, striking him in the chest. The wrapped sandwich bounces off the agent’s flak vest before Dunn turns and sprints across the street. Several officers give chase as bystanders observe.

Dunn was apprehended moments later. While being processed at the Metropolitan Police Department’s Third District, he allegedly told an officer, “I did it. I threw a sandwich.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi, a key ally in Trump’s Justice Department reshaping, announced Dunn’s firing Thursday on X. “If you touch any law enforcement officer, we will come after you,” she wrote. She said that she had just discovered that he was a DOJ employee. “Not only is he FIRED, he has been charged with a felony. This is an example of the Deep State we have been up against for seven months as we work to refocus DOJ.”

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, who has defended Trump’s unprecedented police takeover, previously wrote on X, “This guy thought it was funny. Well, he doesn’t think it’s funny today.”

For residents of U Street and across D.C., where nearly 15 percent of adults identify as LGBTQ+, the surge of federal power into local streets has become a vivid reminder of how quickly the city’s character and freedoms can be tested.

The sandwich-throwing incident came less than 24 hours before Trump invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to seize control of the Metropolitan Police Department for 30 days, a move condemned by civil rights advocates and Democratic leaders as authoritarian.

“Dunn had his first appearance today before federal Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey and was released on his own recognizance," the DOJ said in a press release Thursday afternoon.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional reporting and the original headline was changed to reflect that Dunn was a DOJ employee and not a lawyer.