A Trump supporter who prosecutors say fired a pistol into the air on the grounds of the Capitol as a mob stormed the constructing on Jan. 6, 2021, was charged on Friday with firearm offenses, trespassing and interfering with legislation enforcement officers throughout a civil dysfunction.
The person, John Banuelos, fired no less than two photographs into the air whereas standing above the group on scaffolding on the west facet of the Capitol, in line with a felony criticism unsealed in Federal District Court docket in Washington. It doesn’t seem that Mr. Banuelos entered the Capitol. However earlier than the photographs have been fired, prosecutors say, he posed for a photograph sporting a “Trump 2020” cowboy hat and exhibiting off a pistol tucked into his waistband.
One of the persistent lies in regards to the Capitol assault — typically made by Republican politicians and right-wing media figures — is that not one of the a whole lot of rioters who stormed the constructing had weapons. On Thursday evening, former President Donald J. Trump repeated the false declare on social media whereas responding to remarks about Jan. 6 that President Biden had made throughout his State of the Union handle.
“The so-called ‘Insurrectionists’ that he talks about had no weapons,” Mr. Trump wrote. “They solely had a Rigged Election.”
However the Justice Division’s sprawling investigation of Jan. 6 has revealed that a number of folks on the Capitol have been carrying firearms that day. Altogether, greater than 1,300 rioters have been charged in reference to the assault and arrests proceed nearly every day.
Man Wesley Reffitt, a militiaman from Texas, was sporting a pistol on his hip when he led a cost of rioters up a staircase on the west facet of the Capitol, in line with testimony at his trial — the primary of dozens to have taken place in Washington related to the occasions of Jan. 6. Mr. Reffitt was finally convicted of a gun cost and different felonies and was sentenced to greater than seven years in jail.
Among the many different rioters who have been carrying firearms on Jan. 6 are Christopher Alberts, a former Virginia Nationwide Guard member who charged the police outdoors the Capitol with a loaded 9-millimeter pistol, prosecutors say. Mr. Alberts was convicted of a number of felony prices and sentenced to seven years in prison.
A rioter named Mark Mazza introduced two weapons to the Capitol — a .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol and a Taurus revolver loaded with shotgun shells and hollow-point bullets, prosecutors say. Mr. Mazza was sentenced to five years in prison.
Prosecutors didn’t determine what kind of pistol Mr. Banuelos was carrying on Jan. 6, however they stated of their criticism that he was not licensed to have it. Among the many prices he faces are carrying and discharging a firearm on the Capitol grounds.
After firing the photographs, prosecutors stated, Mr. Banuelos slipped the weapon again into his waistband, climbed down from the scaffolding and rejoined the group.
