Highly trained former military officers were part of the mob that stormedthe US Capitol on January 6, a startling report by the Associated Press andpublished by Bloomberg on Friday shows.
Encouraged by US President Donald Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric regardingthe validity of the 2020 US election results, armed mobs broke into theUnited States Capitol — the equivalent of Parliament House, the buildingwhere the US House of Representatives and Senate (Congress) meet —vandalising the most central symbol of American democracy.
AP’s review of public records, social media posts, and videos shows that atleast 21 current or former military or police personnel have beenidentified at or near the Capitol riot.
People were seen wearing military-style helmets, body armor, rucksacks andtwo-way radios, identical to the ones the police they confronted had.
Moreover, the group marching up the Capitol building’s steps in a “RangerFile” formation during the breach wore patches that read “MILITIA” and”OATHKEEPER”. Others were wearing patches and insignias representingfar-right militant groups, including the Proud Boys and the ThreePercenters.
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More than 110 people have been arrested so far.
According to the sources, the chief of the US Capitol Police stepped downafter the attack and several officers stand suspended with their conductduring the incident the subject of a probe.
The FBI has warned of the likelihood of more bloodshed in the weeks ahead.
Furthermore, in an internal message to all service members the military’stop leaders warned that “the right to free speech gives no one the right tocommit violence”, the report states.
‘Worst fears realised’
According to the report, experts on homegrown radicalism have sounded thealarm for years about far-right militants and white-supremacist groupsworking “to radicalise and recruit people with military and law enforcementtraining”.
They say that the January 6 attacks that left five people dead, saw some oftheir “worst fears realised”.
One such person to emerge is Lieutenant Colonel Larry Rendall Brock, Jr, aretired Air Force lieutenant from Texas who was taken into police custodyafter being photographed wearing a helmet and body armor on the premisesand holding zip-tie handcuffs.