Capitol Riot Investigation: Man Who Carried Confederate Flag Arrested

January 15, 2021 Most Shared 0

The Four Percent

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A man seen holding a Confederate battle flag, a person identified as striking a police officer with a flagpole and a retired firefighter identified as having thrown a fire extinguisher at officers were among those arrested Thursday for their role in the riot at the U.S. Capitol last week.

A federal prosecutor in Texas also said on Thursday that a retired Air Force officer who stormed the Senate chamber dressed in military-style clothing and holding zip ties had intended to “take hostages.”

The retired officer, Larry Rendell Brock, was arrested in Texas on Sunday on one count of unlawfully entering a restricted building and another of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, the Justice Department said at the time.

“He means to take hostages,” the Texas prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Weimer, said on Thursday, The Associated Press reported. “He means to kidnap, restrain, perhaps try, perhaps execute members of the U.S. government.”

The Justice Department has said that images from the Capitol siege appeared to show Mr. Brock wearing a green helmet, a tactical vest, a camouflage jacket and trousers holding zip ties that are used by law enforcement officers to “restrain and/or detain subjects.” But the A.P. quoted Mr. Brock’s attorney, Brook Antonio II, as saying on Thursday that there was no direct evidence of him breaking into the Capitol or doing anything violent inside.

The top federal prosecutor in Washington said this week that he expected the number of people charged with crimes tied to the Capitol riot to rise into the hundreds.

The F.B.I. has received more than 126,000 photographic and video tips and as agents have scrubbed airline passenger manifests and video of air travelers to and from Washington to find potential suspects.

The man who was photographed holding a Confederate battle flag inside the U.S. Capitol during the riot was arrested on Thursday in Delaware, two law enforcement officials said. The man, Kevin Seefried, was wanted by the F.B.I., which had sought help from the public to identify him and had widely circulated a dispatch plastered with images of him.

In a bulletin, the agency said that it was looking for assistance to identify individuals “who made unlawful entry” into the Capitol, including Mr. Seefried.

According to court documents, Mr. Seefried and his son, Hunter Seefried, were identified after the F.B.I. received a report from a co-worker of Hunter Seefried that said the man had bragged about being in the Capitol with his father on January 6.Mr. Seefried’s son was also charged.

A retired firefighter from Chester, Pa., was also arrested on Thursday after he was identified as the man seen in a video throwing a fire extinguisher at police officers during the riot. The man, Robert Sanford, is charged with assaulting a law enforcement officer engaged in the performance of official duties and civil disorder among other crimes.

Mr. Sanford went to the Capitol following “the president’s instructions,” a complaining witness told the F.B.I.

Another man was charged on Thursday after law enforcement officials identified him as the person seen repeatedly striking an officer with a flagpole on the stairs of the Capitol in a video posted on Twitter. That man, Peter Stager of Arkansas, was charged with obstructing law enforcement, according to the criminal complaint.

The complaint also identified Mr. Stager as saying in another video posted on Twitter that everyone in the Capitol “is a treasonous traitor” and that “death is the only remedy for what’s in that building.”

Also on Thursday, an employee with Cleveland public schools was charged with entering and committing unlawful activities on the grounds of the Capitol. The woman, Christine Priola, was traced through an anonymous tip to the F.B.I. after she was recognized in photographs posted to Twitter, according to court documents.