Confusion continues to reign over the several-hour siege of the nation’s legislature Wednesday, and the lack of arrests during the event itself only compounds the issue: We don’t have police records identifying hundreds or potentially thousands who took part in the attack.
Though D.C. police have published a lengthy persons of interest document with pictures of the perps, Capitol Police on Thursday identified only fourteen arrestees by name, most for an unlawful entry offense, others for weapons violations and two for assaulting a police officer.
“Some participants in yesterday’s violence will be charged today,” Acting Attorney General Joseph Rosen said in a statement Thursday, noting that federal criminal prosecutors had worked “throughout the night” with special agents and investigators from Capitol Police, FBI, ATF and the D.C. police to identify perpetrators.
But already, there’s lots of information available to identify wrong-doers: Press photographs, as well as self-incriminating footage from hundreds of social media users, carefree about the federal laws they were in the act of violating. Here’s a sampling of high-profile individuals who’ve already been identified — with the caveat, of course, that this is a preliminary list of imperfect information.
‘Q Shaman’
Perhaps the most recognizable figure in the entire scrum was a guy with a painted face and horns who appeared to be Jake Angeli, otherwise known as the QAnon Shaman. Angeli is a bigtime QAnon adherent and a regular face at gatherings and protests. Here’s him sanctifying a mall.
The podcast QAnon Anonymous interviewed Angeli a few months ago. “Hollywood is full of interdimensional vampires,” he told them. After yesterday’s siege, in which he was photographed taking Mike Pence’s place on the Senate dais, Angeli recorded a video message for the people of Venezuela.
Angeli was one of the people seemingly identified as a person of interest by police (pp. 1).
‘Baked Alaska’
Another easy one is Tim Gionet, otherwise known as Baked Alaska, a far-right influencer and live-streamer. In years past he’s hosted neo-Nazis like Richard Spencer and Andrew Anglin on his talk shows and tweeted gas chamber memes. The night prior to the attack, he was filmed on the streets of Washington, D.C. saying “I want to stand up for our race.”
How do we know he stormed the Capitol? He literally live-streamed himself in the act:
users on Tim Gionet's, aka Baked Alaska, live stream on DLive are calling to give lawmakers the "rope" and to "hang all the congressmen" on DLive while he's streaming inside the Capitol building. pic.twitter.com/fq9t7KAlfA
— hannah gais (@hannahgais) January 6, 2021
Neo-nazi loser Baked Alaska ejected from capitol building by swat team as coup attempt implodes pic.twitter.com/ndQhhdm28J
— Nathan Bernard (@nathanTbernard) January 6, 2021
West Virginia State Rep. Derrick Evans (R-Wayne)
This is a fun one: Evans, like hundreds of others, live-streamed himself storming the Capitol Building, at one point saying, “I don’t know where we’re going, but I’m following the crowd.” But unlike hundreds of others, he’s a newly elected member of the West Virginia House of Delegates.
Richard “Bigo” Barnett
Listen, if you’re going to storm and ransack a government building, at least don’t claim credit for stealing a piece of the Speaker of the House’s mail to a New York Times reporter. And that’s exactly what it appears Arkansas man Bigo Barnett did. In fact, he downright hammed it up.
Here’s Mr. Barnett, who goes by “Bigo,” telling the story in his own words pic.twitter.com/oSyKiCDXgy
— Matthew Rosenberg (@AllMattNYT) January 6, 2021
That’s Richard “Bigo” Barnett, 60, from Gravette, Ak., showing off the personalized envelope he took from Speaker Pelosi’s office. He insisted he didn’t steal it — “I left a quarter on her desk.” pic.twitter.com/aST7MCoRwP
— Matthew Rosenberg (@AllMattNYT) January 6, 2021
This is Richard Bigo Barnett, boasting about having broken into the office of the Speaker of the House. Is he still at large? pic.twitter.com/wtCtLYN0vy
— James Gleick (@JamesGleick) January 7, 2021
Adam Johnson
Adam Johnson instantly became one of the most recognizable faces of the riot when a Getty photographer snapped him smiling and waving while lugging off a podium from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) office. The Bradenton, Florida Herald, his hometown paper, quickly confirmed his identity.
This Idiot Who Wore His Work Badge To A Coup
We don’t have the name of this fellow, but he wore a badge belonging to the company Navistar Direct Marketing during the Capitol breach, and the company subsequently confirmed in a statement that the man was an employee who had been terminated “for cause,” WBAL’s Tre Ward reported.
The man was also included in the D.C. police persons of interest list (pp. 14).
NEW: A Maryland company has terminated one of its employees after he was apparently captured in a picture during the mob riot in the Capitol yesterday. @wbaltv11 pic.twitter.com/flxRhdmP3P
— Tre Ward (@TreWardWBAL) January 7, 2021
Josiah Colt
Colt hails from Idaho, a state with rich history of anti-government extremism.
That was on full display yesterday, with the Gem Stater not only reaching the dais of the Senate and posing for pictures, but also bragging about it endlessly on the internet, where an old high school classmate quickly recognized him. The Idaho Statesman took it from there.
They’re in the chamber. One is up on the dais yelling “Trump won that election!” This is insane pic.twitter.com/p6CXhBDSFT
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) January 6, 2021
“I’m in downtown D.C.,” he said in one dispatch. “I’m all over the news now. But, like, I’m just like every single one of those people that was marching. A peaceful protest, we’re here to represent America … we’re tired of being lied to. We’re tired of people stealing from us, stealing our freedoms, stealing our liberties. I didn’t hurt anybody in there. Like, yeah, I did sit in Nancy Pelosi’s seat. She shouldn’t be there.”
He didn’t sit in Nancy Pelosi’s seat, he sat in Mike Pence’s. But Colt did seemingly admit to a crime. Per the Statesmen, he is not in custody.
Aaron Mostofsky
Aaron Mostofsky wore a suit of furs, a police vest and a pelt cap to the insurrection. He carried a wooden cane and a police riot shield. He’s from Brooklyn.
And, wouldn’t you know it, he’s the son of the Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Shlomo Mostofsky. It probably wasn’t wise to admit to The New York Post that he stormed the Capitol, nor that he did it because “the election was Stolen.” Gothamist has more, or check out that Post interview below — yes, it was on video. And Aaron gave his name.
This post has been updated.
