A retired lieutenant colonel in the Air Force reserves was identified as one of the protesters who invaded the nation’s Capitol on Wednesday and went to the Senate floor carrying ties while lawmakers fled.
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Larry R. Brock Jr. confirmed to the New Yorker on Friday that he was the man pictured wearing a helmet and military equipment in the Senate after pro-Trump supporters, encouraged by the president’s rhetoric, stormed the building. They interrupted a joint Congressional hearing to certify the Electoral College’s results of the presidential election.
Larry Brock Jr. was identified wearing a helmet on the Senate floor as pro-Trump protesters stormed the United States Capitol building on Wednesday after mass demonstrations. (Photo by Win McNamee / Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
“The president asked his supporters to be present and I felt it was important, because of how much I love this country, to be really there,” Brock told the New Yorker, adding that he intended to do so peacefully.
He did not respond to Fox News’s request for comment.
The Air Force confirmed to Fox News that Brock entered military service in 1989 and became part of the Air Force Reserve in 1998. He served as an A-10 pilot until 2007 and retired in 2014.
“As a citizen, we no longer have jurisdiction over him,” the Air Force said in a statement to Fox News.
Brock, 53, a father of three, said he used tactical equipment because he was afraid of being hurt by counter-protesters like “BLM or Antifa”. He found the seals on the floor and picked them up, with the intention of handing them over to a police officer if he found one, reported the New Yorker.
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“I know it looks threatening,” he said, adding that he did not know or support vandalism and destruction on the Capitol – which included broken windows and stolen historic relics. “That was not my intention.”
Meanwhile, members of Brock’s family told the media that he used racist language in his presence and that his pro-Trump views had shifted further to the right in recent years. They noted that he may have had views of white supremacy, an accusation he denied, reported the New Yorker.
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The FBI continues to work to identify individuals photographed in the Capitol riot, which left five dead, including a Capitol police officer, and dozens of others injured.
Authorities charged at least 13 people in federal court over the incident.