The Federal Bureau of Investigation is still hunting 350 people involved in the deadly siege of the Capitol a year ago. The agency are st...
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is still hunting 350 people involved in the deadly siege of the Capitol a year ago.
The agency are still seeking to identify 250 people seen on video assaulting Capitol police, including a man who appears to have used an electric prod disguised as a cane on a cop, after the riot. Another 100 have been identified but not yet apprehended for multiple crimes tied to January 6.
The investigation has been a massive undertaking for federal law enforcement who have charged more than 700 people.
But hundreds more remain on the loose including a man, seen wearing a grey tracksuit and hoodie, who allegedly planted bombs at the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican National Committees the night before the riot.
Investigators have talked to more than 900 people and collected 39,000 video files just to find the suspect, who also wore a face mask and gloves, who appeared to place an explosive under a bench outside the Democratic National Committee.
The person - authorities don't yet know if it's a man or a woman - was also captured walking in an alley near the Republican National Committee before a bomb was placed there. Both buildings are within a few blocks of the Capitol.
The bombs were rendered safe and no one was hurt.
Authorities are still searching for a suspect who planted two bombs outside the Democratic and Republican national committees the day before the January 6 riot. Above, the suspect walking in an alley near the RNC before the bomb was placed
The FBI still doesn't know if it's a man or a woman. Above, the suspect in a grey hoodie and a mask after planting the explosives, which were rendered safe the next day
More than 700 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the January 6, 2021 riot, including 225 people accused of attacking or interfering with officers
On January 5, 2021, the bomb suspect was covered from head to toe, skulking through the dark streets of the nation's capital before methodically placing two explosives outside the committee buildings.
Only 17 hours later - and just before the Capitol was stormed by a sea of pro-Trump rioters - were the pipe bombs discovered. It quickly became one of the highest-priority investigations for the FBI and the Justice Department.
'In normal times, like if this wasn't COVID, a person walking down the street in DC covered from head to toe with a mask on, glasses and gloves would have been a red flag,' said Steven D'Antuono, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's field office in Washington.
But the trail grew cold almost immediately. A year later, federal investigators are no closer to learning the person's identity. And a key question remains: Was there a connection between the pipe bombs and the riot at the Capitol?
The suspect is among hundreds of people still being sought by the FBI following last January's deadly insurrection, perpetrated by supporters of former President Donald Trump who sought to stop Congress from certifying the election results in favor of President Joe Biden.
'This investigation takes time because it is a lot of lot of work, a lot of painstaking work that they look at the video kind of frame by frame,' said Steven D'Antuono, assistant director in charge of the FBI's field office in Washington
Robert Palmer, 54 was sentenced to 63 months in December for his involvement in the riot
Palmer threw wooden boards, a pole and a fire extinguisher at police
Jacob Chansley, 34, has the second-longest sentence with 41 months
A few weeks ago, a Florida man who sprayed police officers with a fire extinguisher before throwing it at them during the riot was given the harshest sentence yet - more than five years.
Robert Palmer, 54, from Largo, Florida, pushed himself to the front of the crowd and threw wooden boards at police before retreating after being pepper sprayed, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Juman.
Jacob Chansley, 34, the so-called QAnon Shaman, has the second-longest sentence with 41 months.
But for the FBI agents working on the cases, the job is far from over.
Agents and investigative analysts have been poring over thousands of hours of surveillance video, going second by second in each video to try to capture clear images of people who attacked officers inside the Capitol.
Police body cam footage captured a man using a cane with electric prods on the end to shock officers. He has still not been identified
'This investigation takes time because it is a lot of lot of work, a lot of painstaking work that they look at the video kind of frame by frame,' D'Antuono said.
In one case, police body camera footage captures a man using a cane with electric prods on the end jabbing at officers and shocking them as they fight to hold back the riotous crowd trying to break through a barricaded line of officers at one of the doors of the Capitol.
The crackling sound of the electricity can be heard as he prods his cane into one of the officers. The man, known only as 'AFO114' - using shorthand for 'assaulting a federal officer' - is still being sought.
This image from an FBI poster seeking a suspect who allegedly placed pipe bombs in Washington on January 5, 2021. It is still unknown if the incident was related to the riot the next day
The unidentified suspects above are still wanted for assaulting officers during the Capitol riot
'The assaults against the police officers are extremely serious,' D'Antuono said.
More than 100 police officers were attacked by rioters on Jan. 6, some attacked by multiple people and some attacked multiple times, he said. More than 225 people have been accused of attacking or interfering with officers, according to the New York Times.
Officer Brian Sicknick suffered two strokes the day after the riot, according to NPR. He had been sprayed with chemical irritants during the demonstration, but they don't appear to have been a factor in his death.
Separately, four police officers who were defending the Capitol from the rioters died by suicide in the months after the event, CNBC reports.
Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick died of natural causes the day after the riot
In one video from the riot, a man is seen repeatedly bashing a police officer over the head with a 6 ft (1.8-meter) metal pole as he tries to push his way into the Capitol. And a third shows a man spraying some kind of chemical from a can into the faces of other officers.
'There is still a lot of work to be done on this,' D'Antuono said. 'There were a lot of people up there at the Capitol, a lot of people that either committed violence up there did other unlawful actions up there.'
In the search for the person who left the pipe bombs at the RNC and DNC offices, investigators have interviewed more than 900 people, collected 39,000 video files and examined more than 400 leads.
They have dived into the components of the explosives and have been working to try to discern anything they can about the suspect, from analyzing the person's gait to trying to collect information about purchases of the distinctive Nike sneakers the person wore.
But they are still no closer to finding the suspect's identity and are hoping renewed attention on the video of the person may spark a tip to crack the case.
Jeffrey McKellop was pictured wearing a paramilitary bulletproof vest and helmet, with a gas mask with a patch of the Georgia national flag
A MPD captain prepared to deploy the riot-control spray at McKellop and the crowd when the Army veteran picks up a flagpole from the ground and shoves it into the captain's face
An MPD police captain is pictured after being jabbed with the flag pole during the Capitol riot
The explosive devices were placed outside the two buildings between 7.30pm and 8.30pm on January 5, 2021, but weren't located by law enforcement until the next day.
Capitol Police and agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were called to the Republican National Committee's office around 12.45pm on January 6.
About 30 minutes later, as the agents and bomb technicians were still investigating at the RNC, another call came in for a similar explosive device found at the Democratic National Committee headquarters nearby.
No one was hurt by the bombs.
The suspect, caught in various videos, wore black and light gray Nike Air Max Speed Turf sneakers with a yellow logo.
Former President Donald Trump repeatedly claimed the 2020 election had been rigged against him before his supporters attacked the Capitol
Steve Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist, has been charged with contempt of Congress after refusing to sit down with lawmakers investigating the January 6 riot
'We've used and continue to use every investigative tool that we lawfully have to find this individual,' D´Antuono said.
But, a year later, investigators still don't know whether the suspect is a man or a woman. The person carried the bombs - made of threaded galvanized pipes, kitchen timers and homemade black powder - in a backpack.
'We're still nose to the grindstone here and trying to find this individual, trying to bring the person to justice,' D'Antuono said. 'But there is hopefully maybe somebody still out there that knows the person or sees the video again.'
It is unclear whether the bombs were related to planning for the insurrection or whether they were unrelated to the deadly riot. Both buildings are within a few blocks of the Capitol.
The government has charged more than 700 people in the riot, but authorities estimate that at least 2,500 people took part in it, the New York Times reports.
A Democratic-led select House committee is investigating the riot, including its origins.
Two aides to former President Donald Trump, who claimed the 2020 election had been stolen from him in the days leading up to the riot, have been charged with obstruction of Congress for refusing to sit down with lawmakers.
No comments