The FBI charged a Capitol rioter after locals spotted his high-school varsity jacket on TV and turned him in
Residents of a New York town where one of the accused Capitol rioters grew up helped the FBI identify him after spotting his varsity football jacket on CNN, according to federal court records.
On January 12, the police chief in North Castle Township, New York, called the New York FBI headquarters to report the superintendent of a local school district has been alerted by members of the community that their high school varsity jacket was spotted among rioters at the Capitol.
Footage of the siege, during which dozens of pro-Trump extremists forced their way into the government building, was aired on CNN. A Byram Hills High School jacket was prominently displayed in the video.
The chief called the FBI back later and said he believed the man in the jacket was Brian Gundersen, who had played varsity football at the high school and donned the number 70 jersey.
Photos from the Capitol riot show the letterman jacket bore two digits, ending with zero, according to the affidavit.
The FBI followed up by interviewing two people who know Gundersen personally.
One of them told agents Gundersen is an avid supporter of Trump and a follower of far-right commentator Nick Fuentes. The witness said Gundersen left his home in Pennsylvania to go to DC on January 5 to attend the rally.
The other said they knew Gundersen was inside of the Capitol building and among the crowd that had been disarming police officers of their riot shields, according to the FBI affidavit.
When agents obtained access to Gundersen's phone records, they found he had bragged about his involvement in the riots.
On January 8, he sent a photo of members of Congress taking cover as the pro-Trump extremists took control of the building.
"Look at these scared little bitches," he wrote in a message on January 8. "We all stormed the us capital [sic] and tried to take over the government."
"We failed but f--k it," he followed up, according to the affidavit.
Gundersen faces federal charges of knowingly entering and remaining on restricted grounds and disorderly conduct.
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