A Williamsburg man at the Capitol riot in Washington on Jan. 6 was arrested by FBI agents from the Norfolk FBI office Tuesday.
Jonathan Gennaro Mellis, 34, is charged with storming the U.S. Capitol and assaulting law enforcement officers, authorities said.
He was taken into custody without incident at his home in Williamsburg, Christina Pullen, spokeswoman for the Norfolk FBI, said.
Mellis is currently being held at Western Tidewater Regional Jail in Suffolk and is scheduled for a remote bond hearing Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk Division.
According to court documents filed by U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Mellis was captured on officer body camera footage swinging and stabbing a stick at law enforcement officers.
In the video, Mellis can be heard saying, “knock their masks off.”
Three images in the court documents also show Mellis using the stick to stab at officers, who were in riot gear trying to protect the west entrance to the Capitol.
In the last image, Mellis appears to be swinging the stick at an officer’s neck, between the man’s helmet and body armor, the complaint said.
The report also states FBI agents received two tips from people “associated with Mellis,” which showed screenshots from Mellis’ Facebook page from the Capitol riots.
Law enforcement reviewed Mellis’ public Facebook page and found the same photos and posts.
Some Facebook photos show Mellis at various locations, including on the National Mall approaching the U.S. Capitol Building Complex, on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol, and inside the west-facing entryway to the U.S. Capitol Building.
“We proudly take responsibility for storming the castle,” the Facebook post said. “We are fighting for election integrity. They heard us.”
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