Two men were arrested for assaulting a Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick, who died after responding to riots on January 6, the Justice Department announced Monday. The details of Sicknick’s death remain unclear.
Julian Elie Khater, 32, of State College, Pennsylvania, and George Pierre Tanios, 39, of Morgantown, West Virginia, are accused of spraying police officers with a chemical spray. They face nine charges, including assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon.
Prosecutors said the surveillance video showed Kater and Tanios working together to attack the police with chemical spray and break down the bike rack barriers that protected the Capitol building.
They also watched an open source video of the attacks that they said showed Khater approaching Tanios, saying, “Give me that shitty bear” and “They just fuck me with spray”. Khater is then shown holding a white can that appears to be a chemical spray. They later said that Khater sprayed the chemical on three policemen.
“The police immediately step back from the line, put their hands on their faces and run to find water to wash their eyes,” says the statement. Prosecutors said police officers were temporarily blinded and needed medical attention.
Sicknick reported receiving pepper spray with a substance. The other two policemen described the spray as “a substance as strong as, if not stronger than, any version of pepper spray they were exposed to during training as policemen”.
Later that night, Capitol police said that Sicknick, 42, returned to “his division’s office and collapsed.” He was taken to a local hospital, where he died. His cause of death has yet to be determined.
His brother, Ken Sicknick, said that Brian wanted to be a police officer all his life. “Brian is a hero and that’s what we would like people to remember,” said Ken in a January statement.
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Prosecutors said an informant flagged Khater’s LinkedIn page for investigators, who then contacted his former classmate at State College, Pennsylvania. After reviewing old working documents, the former colleague confirmed that Khater was his surname.
Meanwhile, investigators received two tips, including photos of Tanios in the Capitol riot. Prosecutors said Tanios was wearing “Sandwich University” clothing in his profile photo and other photos from January 6. The informant said Tanios owns Sandwich University, a fast-food restaurant in Morgantown.
Both men appeared in court on Monday. Prosecutors are asking for detention so that the men stay behind bars for the time being. Tanios has a bail hearing scheduled for Thursday.
Federal prosecutors charged more than 300 people and arrested more than 280 in connection with the Capitol riot on January 6. The authorities called this “more complex investigation already sued by the Department of Justice. “