Crime & Justice

Jan. 6 Rioter Fired Gun Twice Into Air at Capitol: New Footage

TRIGGER HAPPY

This is the first time insurrectionists can be seen discharging firearms during the Capitol riot.

Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as people try to storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Brent Stirton/Getty Images

New footage posted to Rumble shows a Jan. 6 insurrectionist standing high along scaffolding at the U.S. Capitol and firing his gun into the air twice before the crowd. The man who fired was identified as John Emanuel Banuelos, who has not been charged or arrested for his role in the Capitol riot, but who had identified himself to Salt Lake City police as a rioter who had been filmed with a gun, NBC News reported in 2022. The video is the first time insurrectionists can be seen discharging firearms at the Capitol riot, although many have been given prison sentences for bringing deadly weapons to the Capitol. Banuelos, who bragged that the FBI “hasn’t gotten me yet” to local police, was arrested for the fatal stabbing of another man on July 4, 2021, although he was not brought to court for the man’s death. The footage of Banuelos firing the gun was posted by Derrick Evans, a rioter now running for Congress who was formerly sentenced to three months in prison for his role in the insurrection.

Read it at NBC News