Arrests Made in Case of Capitol Officer Who Died on January 6th

The entire situation at the Capitol on January 6th was disheartening at best, and terrifying at worst, and for some families, the heartache is only just beginning.

While much of the media has been focused on the causes of the attempted insurrection, there are several lives lost that day, and no closure has yet come for the loved ones left behind.

Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick was one of the few who died on account of the events of that day, and two arrests have now been made in his case.

Two men have been arrested and charged for assaulting US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after responding on January 6 to hundreds of rioters who stormed the Capitol, the Justice Department announced Monday.

Julian Elie Khater, 32, of Pennsylvania, and George Pierre Tanios, 39, of West Virginia, are alleged to have worked together to spray police, including Sicknick, with a toxic chemical spray during the Capitol riot. Khater called what was in the cannister “bear sh*t,” according to court records, but the Justice Department on Monday said the spray is unknown.

It wasn’t easy, however.

Investigators had struggled for weeks to build a federal murder case in Sicknick’s death as they pored over video and photographs to try to determine the moment in which he suffered his fatal injuries. Investigators determined that initial reports suggesting Sicknick had been struck with a fire extinguisher weren’t true.

“Officers Sicknick, Edwards and Chapman, who are standing within a few feet of KHATER, all react, one by one, to something striking them in the face. The officers immediately retreat from the line, bring their hands to their faces and rush to find water to wash out their eyes,” the FBI wrote in court papers, describing the melee caught on video.

The FBI has been combing through a mountain of evidence in the case, and there are likely a great deal more arrests to be made.