Two men have been arrested for assaulting the Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick, who died after responding to the riots on Jan. 6, the Justice Department announced Monday. Details about 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 law enforcement with chemical spray and tear down the barriers of the bike carriers guarding the Capitol building.
They also saw an open source video of the attacks that they said showed Khater approaching Tanios, saying, “Give me this bear,” and “They just smoked me.” Khater is then shown with a white can that appears to be a chemical spray. Later, they said Khater sprayed the chemical against three agents.
“Officers immediately withdrew from the line, put their hands to their faces and rushed to fetch water to wash their eyes,” the affidavit says. Prosecutors said officers were temporarily blind and in need of medical attention.
Sicknick reported being sprayed with pepper with a substance. The other two agents described the spray as “a substance as strong as, if not stronger, than any version of pepper spray to which they had been exposed during their training as law enforcement officers.”
Later that night, Capitol police said Sicknick, 42, returned to “his division office and collapsed.” He was taken to a local hospital where he died. His cause of death has not yet been determined.
His brother, Ken Sicknick, said Brian wanted to be a police officer all his life. “Brian is a hero and that’s what we’d like people to remember,” Ken said in a January statement.
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Prosecutors said an informant pointed out Khater’s LinkedIn page to investigators, who contacted his former classmate at State College, Pennsylvania. After reviewing old work documents, the former co-worker confirmed that Khater was his last name.
Meanwhile, investigators received two pieces of advice, including photographs of Tanios during the Capitol revolt. Prosecutors said Tanios was wearing clothes with “Sandwich University” in his profile photo and in other Jan. 6 photos. The tipster said Tanios owns Sandwich University, a fast food restaurant in Morgantown.
Both men appeared in court on Monday. Prosecutors are requesting the arrest, so the men will be left behind bars for now. Tanios is scheduled for a bail hearing on Thursday.
Federal prosecutors have charged more than 300 people and arrested more than 280 in connection with the Capitol riot on Jan. 6. complex research never prosecuted by the Department of Justice “.