A 28-year-old man from New Jersey who was standing next to Ashli Babbitt when she was shot by police during the siege of the United States Capitol building was arrested, officials said on Wednesday.
Thomas Baranyi, a Peace Corps member who appeared in a widely publicized clip showing his bloody hand, was arrested on Tuesday by FBI agents on charges of disorderly conduct and being in a restricted building, according to court documents.
Baranyi appeared in court that day and did not dispute that he appeared in the interview, officials said. He was released on $ 100,000 unsecured bail and barred from entering any government building.
In an interview with WUSA 9 outside the Capitol building and referenced in court documents, Baranyi gave his name and state of origin while telling about Babbitt’s murder.
“[W]we had invaded the chambers inside and there was a young woman who came running through the windows. Several police and secret services said, ‘Get down, get out of the way,’ ”he recalled, according to the statement. “She didn’t answer the call and as we ran to try to grab people and pull them back, they shot her in the neck and she fell on my back.”
He added, “[I]it could have been me, but she came in first. It was one of us. “
Babbitt, a 35-year-old veterinarian in the California Air Force, was fatally shot during riots while trying to climb a broken window in a panel next to a barricaded door in the Capitol building.
The FBI agent quoted much of the interview in the deposition and confirmed his identity with the photo of his driver’s license, court documents show.
The New Jersey man explained that “he entered the building from the side ‘with the scaffolding’,” say court doctors.
“[W]and tore the scaffolding through flash bangs and tear gas, and we made our way through all the chambers just trying to get into Congress or whoever we could get in and tell them that we need some kind of investigation into it, interview.
“It was a joke for them until we came in and the guns came out, but we are at one point now, we cannot allow them to remain. We have to do something. People have to do something, ”added Baranyi, according to records.
Baranyi was arrested in Ewing, New Jersey, but his hometown was unclear.
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