The man who allegedly stormed the Capitol “dressed in horns, a bearskin headdress, red, white and blue face paint, shirtless” has been arrested, the Department of Justice announced.
The horned demonstrator was identified as Jacob Anthony Chansley, also known as Jake Angeli, of Arizona, 32. The Trump-supporting QAnon follower was taken into custody on Saturday. Chansley was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Photos of Chansley inside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday night went viral as he was one of the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol to object to Congress’s certification of the election results in favor of President-elect Joe Biden.
Chansley, in an interview with the Arizona Republic in 2020, said that he wore the outfit, which was not the first time, as a way to attract attention.
The chaos at the Capitol led to five deaths, including one law enforcement officer, countless injuries, the destruction of federal property, a lockdown of the Capitol, and dozens of arrests, but it did not stop Congress from certifying the Electoral College for Biden. As of the night of the riot, the Metropolitan Police Department had arrested 52 people in connection with what happened at the Capitol.
Another arrest the DOJ made in connection with the rioting was that of Adam Christian Johnson, 36, who was photographed carrying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern, police claimed.
Federal prosecutors also announced charges against 13 individuals, including a West Virginia legislator, a man who brought Molotov cocktails, and the man who was photographed in Pelosi’s office with his feet up on her desk. While announcing those charges, Ken Cole, a top prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., noted that investigators were pursuing at least 55 cases and that 15 people were likely being criminally charged in the near future.
