Authorities are investigating an increasing number of police officers who allegedly participated in the Capitol rebellion on January 6.
“Unfortunately, as this case progresses, we are seeing indications that officers, former and current, may have been off duty, participating in this riot activity,” said Michael Sherwin, acting District Attorney General for the District of Columbia, Friday. market .
Two police officers from Rocky Mount, Virginia, were arrested on Thursday on federal charges related to the riot, Sherwin said.
“We don’t care what your profession is, who you are, who you are affiliated with, whether you are conducting or engaging in criminal activity, we will charge you and you will be arrested,” said Sherwin.
In addition, Steven D’Antuono of the FBI Field Office in Washington, said on Friday that the most “blatant” pro-Trump extremists in last week’s attack on Capitol Hill are those who are accused of assaulting the police.
The charges have already been filed against individuals like Robert Sanford and Peter Francis Stager and others who can be charged are “a priority for the FBI and our partners.”
“You attack one of us, you attack all of us,” said D’Antuono.
Sanford, a retired firefighter, was arrested Thursday in Pennsylvania and accused of shooting a fire extinguisher that hit three policemen in the head while they were in the crowd on a Capitol terrace. Sanford now faces four federal criminal charges related to the riot, including assaulting, resisting or impeding police officers on duty.
Arkansas’s Stager faces a criminal charge for allegedly beating a uniformed police officer. He allegedly used a flagpole with an American flag to hit the policeman while he was lying on the ground surrounded by the crowd, according to DC district court records.
There are no known arrests related to the death of Capitol Policeman Brian Sicknick, but the FBI is investigating “several” people, two officers told CNN.
On Friday morning, D’Antuono said his investigators are “making progress” in investigating the policeman’s death.
The Sanford incident is unrelated, he added.
D’Antuono said the investigators are watching “anyone” who may be involved, but gave no details about the scope of the investigation.
The New York Times was the first to report that several people were being examined in the investigation.